Sebastien Bourdais believes Ferrari was “taking the piss” with its pace during the qualifying at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Bourdais' #38 entry secured second on the grid for the start of the famous endurance race on Saturday, behind the sister #12 car.
Ferrari's leading entry could only manage seventh on the starting grid, despite being amongst the pre-session favourites for pole following its dominant start to the endurance season.
Toyota, who has won five times in the last seven trips to Le Mans, could only manage 10th with its quickest effort.
However, Bourdais is expecting the two manufacturers to easily make inroads on the front-running field during the race.
“I think they’re making fun of us,” Bourdais said, as quoted by motorsport.com.
“Toyota has made mistakes. Anyone can make a mistake. But Ferrari is making fun of us, that’s for sure.
“When you see what Yifei [Ye] did on his first lap on a green track with 45kg or 50kg in the [#83] car – he set a very first time in 3m23.9s.
“At some point, come on! Okay, it makes for nice stories and all, but they’re taking the piss.”
As Bourdais goes in hunt of his and Cadillac's first ever win at Le Mans, the Frenchman has conceded even a top five will be a challenge come Sunday afternoon.
“It would be great if we got a podium finish, but there are three Ferraris already, so it’s tricky,” he pointed out.
“Toyota, we know their strengths in races: they make no mistakes, they’re reliable, they have no tyre degradation, they can run for 24 hours on a super strong pace.
“So if nothing happens to anyone, the top five is difficult to contend for.”
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