Ferrari Driver Wary Of Ford’s Consistent Lap Times During Le Mans Testing

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), which runs the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, slapped the Ford GT race car with brand-new Balance of Performance (BoP) restrictions following last year’s winning performance.

Ford has been vocal about how this could all but kill their chances in this year’s running of Le Mans, especially after all four of its Ford GT entries appeared to struggle during on-track testing last week. But British racing driver Sam Bird, who drives a Ferrari 488 GTE for AF Corse, is wary of just how close all of Ford’s lap times were.

“I just find it amazing that they say they are struggling when all their drivers were so close to each other, all nine of them,” Bird told Motorsport.com. “If that is their genuine pace, fair enough for doing that, but I don’t think I have ever heard of that before at Le Mans. Let’s put it this way – it is unusual.”

Ford set a fastest time of 3:57.536 during testing – roughly six seconds slower than its best qualifying time last year, and 2.8 seconds behind the fastest GTE-Pro car from this year’s testing: a Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. All four Ford GT race cars posted best times within six tenths of a second of one another, Motorsport.com reports.