Ferrari receives power boost in latest Le Mans BoP adjustment

The Italian marque’s 488 GTE Evo lost 0.07 bar of turbo boost pressure in the last BoP change that was issued just ahead of the start of Wednesday’s first practice session, and went on to struggle for performance in comparison to GTE Pro rivals Corvette and Porsche in qualifying.

Now the Ferrari has had a 0.02 bar increase in power in the latest bulletin issued on Friday ahead of warm-up on Saturday morning and the start of the race itself.

Neither the Porsche 911 RSR-19 nor the Corvette C8.R have had any alterations.

The BoP change comes after a Hyperpole qualifying session in which Corvettes locked out the front row for the GTE Pro class, ahead of the two factory Porsches.

Ferrari’s best effort in Hyperpole, courtesy of Antonio Fuoco in the #52 car, was 1.8s off the pace of Nick Tandy’s pole-winning effort.

#51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE Pro of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Daniel Serra

Photo by: Marc Fleury

James Calado, who was sixth and last in the GTE Pro Hyperpole order aboard the #51 Ferrari, was gloomy for the Prancing Horse’s prospects of defending its 2021 victory.

“We came here [initially] with the same BoP, but compared to last year we lost 0.07 bar, [after Wednesday’s adjustment], which is a lot,” Calado told Motorsport.com, speaking prior to the latest adjustment. “It’s enough that you can feel, it’s quite a big chunk. 

“That’s the decision they’ve made, and we’ve got to try and do the best we can with what we’ve been given, maximise the performance of the car, stay in fighting spirits, because we know deep down it’s going to be difficult.

“There’s nothing we can do. Let’s see what happens in the race. I’m trying not to be bothered about it, I’ll just enjoy being back in the car at Le Mans and the atmosphere.”