Allan McNish believes Audi's two cars can have a straight fight for the World Endurance Championship following the decision to run two hybrid cars for the rest of the season.
Audi confirmed on Thursday that it will switch McNish and Tom Kristensen from the R18 ultra to the hybrid e-tron quattro for the remaining rounds of the season. McNish and Kristensen currently trail their teammates Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer, who have raced the hybrid in all but one of this year's races, by 7.5 points in the championship.
Audi ran a second hybrid for McNish, Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and the Scot has welcomed the news that he will return to the cockpit of the e-tron quattro.
"The car has clearly been developing over the last period since Le Mans," said McNish. "In traffic is where it has one of the main benefits over the [non-hybrid] R18 ultra.
"It definitely puts us on a more level footing with the sister car in terms of the championship, without doubt. Tom and I are quite clear that we are now in a straight fight to the end. So it's good to be jumping back in it. It'll be fresh for the team to work on, and we're all looking forward to it."
Eight-time Le Mans winner Kristensen added: "Allan and I are expecting a lot of the R18 e-tron quattro. We were able to make good use of the car's strengths at Le Mans. That'll hopefully help us in the battle for the title."