2003 1000 km of Le Mans

The 2003 1000 km of Le Mans was a one-off sports car event run under the organization of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) in preparation for the Le Mans Endurance Series that began in 2004. It was run on 9 November 2003 at the Bugatti Circuit near Le Mans, France.

Development

The ACO, having previous helped in the creation of the American Le Mans Series with the running of the 1998 Petit Le Mans, as well as a failed attempt at a Japanese sportscar series with the 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000km, created the 1000 km of Le Mans as an experimental event to gauge the desire for teams to participate in a European-based endurance sportscar series under Le Mans rules.

Previously, the FIA Sportscar and FIA GT Championships had run primarily in Europe, but were not running as a combined series, one concentrating on prototypes and the other grand tourers, and featured mostly sprint or middle-distance races. Don Panoz, creator of the American Le Mans Series, had attempted to create a European series to combine the two types of sportscars with the European Le Mans Series, but had failed to gain enough entrants. The ACO, weary of the same occurrence, decided to hold a single race to see how much participation there would actually be.

Although officially run under the Le Mans Endurance Series name, this did not count towards any championship. In order to help bolster the number of entrants, the ACO promised winners in each of the four race classes automatic invitations to the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Unlike the usual 24 Hours of Le Mans run in June at the 13 km Circuit de la Sarthe, the 1000 km of Le Mans ran on the 4.3 km Bugatti Circuit which did not use closed public roads.

Official results

Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 75% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps
Engine
1 LMP900 5 Audi Sport Japan Team Goh Tom Kristensen
Seiji Ara		 Audi R8 M 208
Audi 3.6L Turbo V8
2 LMP900 2 Pescarolo Sport Stéphane Sarrazin
Franck Lagorce
Sébastien Bourdais		 Courage C60 Evo M 205
Peugeot A32 3.2L Turbo V6
3 LMP900 8 Racing for Holland Jan Lammers
Andy Wallace		 Dome S101 D 204
Judd GV4 4.0L V10
4 LMP675 13 Courage Compétition Wim Eyckmans
Roman Rusinov
Enrico Muscioni		 Courage C65 M 197
JPX 3.4L V6
5 GTS 88 Care Racing Jamie Davies
Darren Turner		 Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello M 195
Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
6 GTS 80 Care Racing Peter Kox
Tim Sugden		 Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello M 194
Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
7 LMP675 18 Intersport Racing Jon Field
Duncan Dayton
Larry Connor		 Lola B01/60 G 191
Judd KV675 3.4L V8
8 GTS 86 Larbre Compétition Christophe Bouchut
Vincent Vosse
Sébastian Dumez		 Chrysler Viper GTS-R M 190
Chrysler 356-T6 8.0L V10
9 LMP900 9 Taurus Racing Phil Andrews
Justin Keen
Giovanni Lavaggi		 Lola B2K/10 D 190
Judd GV4 4.0L V10
10 GT 47 Cirtek Motorsport Philipp Peter
Klaus Engelhorn
Andrea Montermini		 Ferrari 360 Modena GTC P 189
Ferrari F131 3.6L V8
11 GT 39 Freisinger Motorsport Stéphane Ortelli
Stéphane Daoudi
Alexey Vasilyev		 Porsche 996 GT3-RS D 189
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
12 GT 38 PK Sport Ltd. Robin Liddell
Jean-Philippe Belloc		 Porsche 996 GT3-RS P 188
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
13 GT 36 Sebah QM Automotive Xavier Pompidou
Emmanuel Collard		 Porsche 996 GT3-R D 186
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
14 GT 33 Bernard Jubin Sylvain Noël
Christophe Tinseau		 Porsche 996 GT3-RS P 186
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
15 LMP675 24 Rachel Welter Olivier Porta
Richard Balandras
Yojiro Terada		 WR LMP01 M 185
Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4
16 GT 30 Scuderia Ecosse Tim Mullen
Marino Franchitti
Chris Niarchos		 Ferrari 360 Modena GTC P 185
Ferrari F133 3.6L V8
17 GT 46 DeWALT-Racesports Salisbury Michael Caine
Richard Stanton
Bob Berridge		 TVR Tuscan T400R D 182
TVR Speed Six 4.0L I6
18 GT 49 Morgan Motor Company Adam Sharpe
Neil Cunningham		 Morgan Aero 8R D 178
BMW (Mader) 4.5L V8
19 GT 45 DeWALT-Racesports Salisbury Amanda Stretton
Fanny Duchateau
Liz Halliday		 TVR Tuscan T400R D 175
TVR Speed Six 4.0L I6
20 LMP675 12 PiR Pierre Bruneau
Marc Rostan		 Pilbeam MP84 D 173
Nissan (AER) VQL 3.0L V6
21 GT 40 Seikel Motorsport Johnny Mowlem
Alex Caffi
Gabrio Rosa		 Porsche 996 GT3-RS Y 173
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
22 LMP900 7 Fred Goddard Earl Goddard
Martin Short
Warren Carway		 Reynard 01Q D 172
Ford (Nicholson-McLaren) 4.0L V8
23 GTS 66 Konrad Motorsport Wolfgang Kaufmann
Toni Seiler
Franz Konrad		 Saleen S7-R D 170
Ford 7.0L V8
24 GT 32 System Force Motorsport Peter van Merksteijn Sr.
Frans Munsterhuis		 Porsche 996 GT3-RS P 169
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
25 GT 42 Spyker Automobilien Patrick van Schoote
Norman Simon		 Spyker C8 Double-12R D 169
Audi 4.0L V8
26 GT 41 T2M Motorsport Georges Forgeois
Paul Daniels
Wim Coekelberghs		 Porsche 996 GT3-RS M 165
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
27 LMP675 25 Gerard Welter Jean-René de Fournoux
Bastien Brière
William David		 WR LMP02 M 163
Peugeot 3.4L V6
28 GT 34 Noël del Bello Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière
Patrick Caternet
Philip Collin		 Porsche 996 GT3-RS M 161
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
29 LMP900 4 Lister Racing Jamie Campbell-Walter
Nathan Kinch
Tom Coronel		 Lister Storm LMP D 144
Chevrolet LS1 6.0L V8
30
NC		 GT 48 Olivier Baron Bruno Houzelot
Denis Cohignac
André-Alain Corbel		 Porsche 996 GT3-R P 125
Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
31
DNF		 LMP675 15 Didier Bonnet Racing Renaud Denoit
Roland Bossy		 Debora LMP200 M 141
BMW (Mader) 3.4L I6
32
DNF		 LMGTP 10 JML Team Panoz Olivier Beretta
David Saelens		 Panoz Esperante GTR-1 M 126
Ford (Élan) 6L8 6.0L V8
33
DNF		 GT 35 XL Racing Gilles Vannelet
Bernard Rousselot
Gaël Lesoudier		 Ferrari 550 Maranello P 84
Ferrari F133 5.5L V12
34
DNF		 LMP675 14 RML Thomas Erdos
Mike Newton
Chris Goodwin		 MG-Lola EX257 D 65
MG (AER) XP20 2.0L Turbo I4
35
DNF		 LMP900 6 Intersport Racing Clint Field
Rick Sutherland
John Graham		 Riley & Scott Mk III C D 23
Ford (Roush) 6.0L V8
DNS GT 31 RJ Cole
Xero Competition		 Ricky Cole
Peter Le Bas
Paula Cook		 Chevrolet Corvette LM-GT D -
Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8
DNS LMP900 3 Team Nasamax Robbie Sterling
Werner Lupberger
Romain Dumas		 Reynard 01Q D -
Cosworth XD 2.7L Turbo V8
(Bio-Ethanol)

Statistics
  • Pole Position - #5 Audi Sport Japan Team Goh - 1:27.775
  • Distance - 869.44 km
  • Average Speed - 144.952 km/h

Post-Race

Following a successful turn out from a large number of European teams, as well as a handful of American and Japanese teams, the event was considered a success. With this, the ACO pushed forward with their development of the Le Mans Endurance Series, debuting in 2004. This move would also lead to the demise of the FIA Sportscar Championship, as prototype teams chose instead to participate in LMES.

Since this event, the LMES has not returned to Le Mans as part of their regular schedule, although many LMES participants race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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