The diesel-engined Audi of Allan McNish led after three hours into this year's Le Mans 24 Hours which started today.

McNish, aiming to become the first Briton to drive a diesel-powered sportscar to victory in the twice-around-the clock French race 10 years after his only Le Mans triumph, started his Audi R10 TDI fourth on 54-car grid.

The Scot inherited the lead when the leading Peugeot of Stephane Sarrazin/Pedro Lamy/Alexander Wurz encountered transmission problems with just over two hours on the clock. A subsequent 21min pit-stop for repairs saw them slip to 27th place.

McNish, sharing his Audi with Dindo Capello and record seven-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, drove for 2hr 26mins before handing over to Capello.

"In the early stages I was happy to sit behind the three Peugeots - there was no point to take big risks," McNish said.

"They [Peugeot] are very quick but as we've already seen with two of their cars, they can have reliability issues.

"I was very consistent, even in traffic, and I don't think anyone would have imagined, especially after qualifying, an Audi would be leading after less than three hours."

Capello led the 76th Le Mans 24 Hours by almost 30secs from the Peugeot of Marc Gene/Nick Minassian/Jacques Villeneuve with the Franck Montagny/Christian Klien/Ricardo Zonta (Peugeot) third having been delayed by a broken headlight and a drive through penalty for too many mechanics working on the car.

A crowd of around 200,000 had congregated for the start including an estimated 70,000 British fans.

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