German Werner says teamwork will pay for Audi

German Marco Werner says team-work will be essential for Audi at the Le Mans motor racing classic which started yesterday at 4 p.m.

Werner, whose best result on the famous Circuit de la Sarthe was third place last year, is sharing his seat with Finn JJ Lehto and Dane Tom Kristensen, a six-times winner at Le Mans.

The Audis, who have won four of the last five editions of the world's most prestigious endurance race, were much slower than the all-French Pescarolos during the qualifying sessions.

"The gap will not be so big during the race," 39-year-old Werner told Reuters.

His Audi no.3 finished second in the morning's warm-up, four seconds behind the Pescarolo no.16 driven by Emmanuel Collard, Jean-Christophe Boullion and Eric Comas, who clocked a best time of three minutes 37.042 seconds.

The Pescarolo number 17 with world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, Eric Helary and Soheil Ayari, came home fourth, almost five seconds off the pace behind the Audi driven by Italian Emanuele Pirro, German Frank Biela and Briton Allan McNish.

"I am sure we will get closer because we don't use the same engine during the race," added Werner.

The former mechanic said the Audis, which are 50 kilos heavier than the Pescarolos, were more reliable and used less petrol than their opponents.