Bourdais-Hand-Müller’s No. 68 Ford GT disqualified

The final ranking of 24 Hours of Le Mans is modified this Monday evening after the notification of the disqualification of Sébastien's No. 68 Ford GT Bourdais – Joey Hand – Dirk Müller, due to non-compliant tank capacity.

According to the latest Balance of Performance table, revealed on the eve of the race, the car with the blue oval should have presented at post-race technical checks a fuel tank with a capacity of 97 liters.

However, the inspectors discovered an element displaying 97,83 liters. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing USA tried to justify itself by explaining that the cars were sent to Le Mans, after having checked the capacity of the tanks using the same methods as during technical checks.

However, the BoP has been modified in the meantime (from 96 to 97 liters between the Test Day and the race weekend), and on the circuit, Ford made modifications to the tank without being able to control the volume with the same method than for official controls.

However, the decision was taken to disqualify the No. 68, 4th at the finish and best representative of the Dearborn clan, which for the last official outing of the Ford GTs in WEC and in Sarthe, had taken 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th positions in GTE Pro.

The #67 of Andy Priaulx, Jonathan Bomarito and Harry Tincknell therefore finished the best placed Ford GT in fourth position. Note that an appeal remains possible. Another car is also said to be under investigation.

Discover the full report and analysis of the 24 2019 Hours of Le Mans, produced by our special correspondents in Sarthe, in issue 2221 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version and from this Wednesday on newsstands.