diesel will be the way, the advantages are that they pit less, less moving parts in the engine. Top speeds will never reach that of petrol but will be very close, this coupled with less stopping for fuel will put them them on a fairly even keel with them.
Diesel will win at Le Mans in five years is the prediction.
The advancement in road cars is surely testiment to this, over the last few years the advances in engine and performance coupled with reasonable economy is staggering.
VW racing series, the diesels are not that far away from the petrol engined cars