Awards pour in for Audi's superheroes.

Byline: BRUCE BOOTH

FLYING Scot Allan McNish and his Italian partner Dindo Capello have been inundated with a host of prestigious awards since their successful history-making season in their Audi R8 and R10 TDI sportscars.

Dumfries-born McNish, who won the American Le Mans Series for a second time last year, was recently presented with the British Racing Drivers' Club/ Automobile Club de l'Ouest Trophy by BRDC President Damon Hill.

The BRDC/ACO Trophy is presented annually to the highest-placed British driver in the Le Mans 24 Hours - an award McNish picked up for a fourth time after finishing in third place last June in a race won by the revolutionary diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI.

McNish also received the Scottish Motor Racing Club's William Lyons Trophy for the second successive year.

This award, named after Jaguar's founder, goes to the Scottish sportscar driver who has achieved the best performance in a national/international event or championship.

Readers of specialist Audi magazine Audi Driver also voted McNish Audi Personality of the Year, while British motorsport magazine Autosport - which recently awarded the Audi R10 TDI the Pioneering and Innovation Award at its annual awards ceremony - ranked McNish No1 in its 2006 Sportscar Driver Top 15.

But McNish hasn't had it all his own way. Team-mate Capello received the Golden Helmet from the Italian motorsport specialist magazine Autosprint for a second time after his first success in 2003.

The mild-mannered Italian was ranked by Autosport No4 in the 2006 Sportscar Driver Top 15, and for the first-time, was ranked in the World Top 50 from all categories of motorsport worldwide, a category which saw McNish placed No27.

The American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association awarded McNish and Capello the prestigious Horsepower Trophy which Capello will collect at the annual Auto Racing All-America Team Banquet in Indianapolis tomorrow night.

AARWBA are America's oldest and largest organisation of motorsport media professionals.

McNish himself will be at the Autosport Show at Birmingham's NEC this weekend and on Saturday will attend a charity Le Mans Gala Dinner in aid of BEN, The Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund.

The actual FSI-engined Audi R8 McNish and Pierre Kaffer drove in the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series - a chassis that also won the 2005 1000km race at Silverstone piloted by McNish and StAphane Ortelli - will be on display throughout the show.

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REAL TEAM MATES: McNish and Capello hit it off on and off the track