ALMS (LE MANS) - McNISH, CAPELLO HOPE TO TURN LE MANS FORTUNES

Since returning to the American Le Mans Series on a full-time basis at the start of 2006, Dindo Capello and Allan McNish have been as successful as a pairing can be. They won at Sebring and Petit Le Mans last year for Audi, just two of their eight victories on the way to the second class championship for each.

But as great as they were last year, a victory at Le Mans eluded them. McNish, Capello and Tom Kristensen stood on the podium following a third-place finish as teammates Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Marco Werner celebrated a win for diesel power and the Audi R10 TDI. And although he joined in the celebration of Audi's historic victory, Capello couldn't help but feel that luck had let him down.

"Le Mans is Le Mans. It happens only once a year and everything should run perfectly that day," the two-time overall Le Mans winner said. "If it doesn't, you have to wait 12 months to try again. After 12 months, you still have to hope that everything has to run perfectly. We know we have the best car. We have the best team and the best people in the pits. We just need some luck."

He, McNish and the rest of the crew of the No. 1 entry in the American Le Mans Series (No. 2 car at Le Mans) have proven themselves to be championship favorites. The driving duo has won four straight class wins and has a solid hold on the P1 championship lead. But Capello is quick to point out that Le Mans means everything to Audi.

"Le Mans is the main point in our season," he said. "We worked all winter and worked until just one month ago to prepare for this great race. Audi will put 100 percent of the effort to try once more to win. It's still one of the greatest races in the world."

And it's incredibly difficult to win. McNish can attest to that as his lone overall win came in 1998, just his second appearance at the world's greatest auto race.

"The motivation is the same as every year," he said. "Le Mans is not only about speed. It's all about reliability. We had some bad luck last year while our sister car was running without any troubles. Our R10 TDI was running like clockwork at the Test Day. I hope this will be also the case next week. But you can never be sure at Le Mans and you always have to expect the unexpected."

The unexpected came last year in several forms. The pole-sitting entry was beset by maladies ranging from a bad fuel filter and ECU to a faulty halfshaft. Although they recovered well enough to stand on the podium, both drivers know that such misfortune will prove to be costly considering the depth of the P1 field at Le Mans, headlined by two new diesel entries from Peugeot.

"They have a great reputation in motorsport and are taking this project very seriously," McNish said. "They have a strong team and good drivers. It will be a big battle between Audi and Peugeot which is good for the race and the sport. We've seen at the Test Day that they have a very fast car. I'm convinced they will be even faster in qualifying because nobody is going for records at the test day. It will be a very interesting week."

The 75th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 3 p.m. CET (9 a.m. ET) on Saturday, June 16 from the Circuit de la Sarthe. SPEED will provide 17.5 hours of coverage in North America starting at 8:30 a.m. ET on June 16. MotorsTV will air week-long coverage throughout Europe. Live coverage can be found on Radio Le Mans through americanlemans.com.

Round Six of the American Le Mans Series is the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix, set for 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 7 at Lime Rock Park. CBS Sports will televise the race at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 8. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA Live Timing & Scoring.