Map of the Bugatti Circuit

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).[1][2]

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

References

  1. "Le Mans 1000 Km - Provisional Result". DailySportsCar. November 2003. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  2. "Le Mans 1000 Kilometres 2003". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
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