Fresh from finishing fourth in GTE Am with Clearwater in its Ferrari 458, Rob Bell is keen to express his opinions on just what went on in last weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours, which saw Ford dominate proceedings, its cars able to run four to five seconds faster than most the competition after an underwhelming showing at the Test Day.

Interestingly, Bell feels that Ford’s showing at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours will have a positive impact on the future of GTE racing, that the negativity surrounding the race is good for the sport in the long run.

Time for change

“I really like what Ford has done,” he told DSC. “It’s a wake-up call. The FIA, the ACO all now know that you can be a step ahead of the balance of performance process. It goes back to the same thing as driver gradings. They all think that they have the answers.

“They tell me: ‘we’ve got all the data, we know what we’re doing.’ and actually Ford have proven beyond doubt that they don’t, they’re one or two steps behind. It’s arrogance.”

He feels that the entire process needs a rethink if the pace of the cars is going to be equalised effectively in future years.

“It’s difficult to police, but don’t tell everyone you’ve got them covered. It’s so simple to sandbag, because there’s so many parameters which the governing bodies can’t look at. You can’t stop people sandbagging.

“The only thing they can do I think, is to do what they did to Aston in the past, which is say: ‘If anyone goes substantially quicker than this time you’ve set on the Test Day, you’ll get a five-minute stop go penalty.’ But they didn’t, and they were never going to.

They aren’t going to penalise Ferrari and Ford for having a battle at Le Mans together.

“They brought Ford back, they wanted the Ferrari battle. They aren’t going to penalise Ferrari and Ford for having a battle at Le Mans together.

“Whats worse is that they’re using data, but they’re only seeing data Ford want them to see anyway. What’s to say the tyre pressures are right? The ride height? The drivers putting in the effort? They don’t know, it’s not on the data.

“But you must remember, that this sort of thing could well cause a big change for the future that will make it all fairer.”

Spoilt for choice?

It is cause for concern that the events at this year’s Le Mans could effect the GTE Am class massively in the future, creating almost a one-make class. With Ford and Ferrari having superior pace this season, come 2017, anyone upgrading to a 2016 car is unlikely to look further than a 488. The Ford GT isn’t available to customers and the Aston, Corvette and Porsche just didn’t look up to it on pace.

Am isn’t about variety anyway, it’s about racing at a high level in a pro-am setting.

“I think people will choose the Ferrari because the Ferrari is the best car anyway going forward in Am. I think Aston will always have a few cars in because of the brand, but Am isn’t about variety anyway, it’s about racing at a high level in a pro-am setting.

“The thing is that the BoP in Am was pretty good, the Ferrari was the car to have, because it just is the car to have anyway. The racing was also clean and fair, which was extremely encouraging. The only problem was that if you have a clean run, with no issues like we did, you expect a podium.

The BoP in Am was pretty good, the Ferrari was the car to have, because it just is the car to have anyway.

“The standard was so good that nobody hit walls or retired really! But that’s very encouraging for the event.

“Will this year’s race have a big effect on Am?” He concluded. “It could do, but the rest of the season will play a big part on what the plans are for teams in terms of chassis next year.”