WEC: No BoP Change Made to Ferrari 488 in Shanghai

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

The FIA has clarified that no Balance of Performance adjustment has been made to the Ferrari 488 GTE cars during this weekend’s World Endurance Championship event in Shanghai, despite what the Italian manufacturer initially alleged.

A Ferrari representative told Sportscar365 that the pair of AF Corse-run Ferraris were forced to revert to its pre-Shanghai boost configuration, following a boost increase given to the Prancing Horses earlier this week.

Additionally, Ferrari provided details of its alleged “BoP change” in its post-qualifying press release, which the WEC says is not true.

A WEC spokesperson confirmed that only a small change in the referenced atmospheric pressure was made between Friday’s pair of Free Practice sessions and Saturday, applicable to both the turbocharged Ferrari and Ford GTs.

The 8-millibar decrease (1018 to 1010mb), adjusted due to a change in Sunday’s weather forecast, is understood to only be a marginal change, estimated at 1.5 horsepower and is not classified as a BoP change.

A WEC spokesperson told Sportscar365 that the turbos will go back to the 1018mb referenced atmospheric pressure for the race tomorrow.

The AF Corse entries topped the GTE-Pro class time charts in Friday’s Free Practice 2, some 1.2 seconds quicker than the No. 66 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, which was third quickest in class following the opening day of track activity.

However, it was the pair of Fords that swept the class front row in qualifying, with the best-placed Ferrari set to start fourth in class.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John