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 208 Audi 3.6L Turbo V8 2 LMP900 2 Pescarolo Sport Stéphane Sarrazin Franck Lagorce Sébastien Bourdais Courage C60 Evo 205 Peugeot A32 3.2L Turbo V6 3 LMP900 8 Racing for Holland Jan Lammers Andy Wallace Dome S101 204 Judd GV4 4.0L V10 4 LMP675 13 Courage Compétition Wim Eyckmans Roman Rusinov Enrico Muscioni Courage C65 197 JPX 3.4L V6 5 GTS 88 Care Racing Jamie Davies Darren Turner Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello 195 Ferrari F133 5.9L V12 6 GTS 80 Care Racing Peter Kox Tim Sugden Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello 194 Ferrari F133 5.9L V12 7 LMP675 18 Intersport Racing Jon Field Duncan Dayton Larry Connor Lola B01/60 191 Judd KV675 3.4L V8 8 GTS 86 Larbre Compétition Christophe Bouchut Vincent Vosse Sébastian Dumez Chrysler Viper GTS-R 190 Chrysler 356-T6 8.0L V10 9 LMP900 9 Taurus Racing Phil Andrews Justin Keen Giovanni Lavaggi Lola B2K/10 190 Judd GV4 4.0L V10 10 GT 47 Cirtek Motorsport Philipp Peter Klaus Engelhorn Andrea Montermini Ferrari 360 Modena GTC 189 Ferrari F131 3.6L V8 11 GT 39 Freisinger Motorsport Stéphane Ortelli Stéphane Daoudi Alexey Vasilyev Porsche 996 GT3-RS 189 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 12 GT 38 PK Sport Ltd. Robin Liddell Jean-Philippe Belloc Porsche 996 GT3-RS 188 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 13 GT 36 Sebah QM Automotive Xavier Pompidou Emmanuel Collard Porsche 996 GT3-R 186 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 14 GT 33 Bernard Jubin Sylvain Noël Christophe Tinseau Porsche 996 GT3-RS 186 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 15 LMP675 24 Rachel Welter Olivier Porta Richard Balandras Yojiro Terada WR LMP01 185 Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4 16 GT 30 Scuderia Ecosse Tim Mullen Marino Franchitti Chris Niarchos Ferrari 360 Modena GTC 185 Ferrari F131 3.6L V8 17 GT 46 DeWALT-Racesports Salisbury Michael Caine Richard Stanton Bob Berridge TVR Tuscan T400R 182 TVR Speed Six 4.0L I6 18 GT 49 Morgan Motor Company Adam Sharpe Neil Cunningham Morgan Aero 8R 178 BMW (Mader) 4.5L V8 19 GT 45 DeWALT-Racesports Salisbury Amanda Stretton Fanny Duchateau Liz Halliday TVR Tuscan T400R 175 TVR Speed Six 4.0L I6 20 LMP675 12 PiR Pierre Bruneau Marc Rostan Pilbeam MP84 173 Nissan (AER) VQL 3.0L V6 21 GT 40 Seikel Motorsport Johnny Mowlem Alex Caffi Gabrio Rosa Porsche 996 GT3-RS 173 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 22 LMP900 7 Fred Goddard Earl Goddard Martin Short Warren Carway Reynard 01Q 172 Ford (Nicholson-McLaren) 4.0L V8 23 GTS 66 Konrad Motorsport Wolfgang Kaufmann Toni Seiler Franz Konrad Saleen S7-R 170 Ford 7.0L V8 24 GT 32 System Force Motorsport Peter van Merksteijn Sr. Frans Munsterhuis Porsche 996 GT3-RS 169 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 25 GT 42 Spyker Automobilien Patrick van Schoote Norman Simon Spyker C8 Double-12R 169 Audi 4.0L V8 26 GT 41 T2M Motorsport Georges Forgeois Paul Daniels Wim Coekelberghs Porsche 996 GT3-RS 165 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 27 LMP675 25 Gerard Welter Jean-René de Fournoux Bastien Brière William David WR LMP02 163 Peugeot 3.4L V6 28 GT 34 Noël del Bello Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière Patrick Caternet Philip Collin Porsche 996 GT3-RS 161 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 29 LMP900 4 Lister Racing Jamie Campbell-Walter Nathan Kinch Tom Coronel Lister Storm LMP 144 Chevrolet LS1 6.0L V8 NC GT 48 Olivier Baron Bruno Houzelot Denis Cohignac André-Alain Corbel Porsche 996 GT3-R 125 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 DNF LMP675 15 Didier Bonnet Racing Renaud Derlot Roland Bossy Debora LMP200 141 BMW (Mader) 3.4L I6 DNF LMGTP 10 JML Team Panoz Olivier Beretta David Saelens Panoz Esperante GTR-1 126 Ford (Élan) 6L8 6.0L V8 DNF GT 35 XL Racing Gilles Vannelet Bernard Rousselot Gaël Lesoudier Ferrari 550 Maranello 84 Ferrari F133 5.5L V12 DNF LMP675 14 RML Thomas Erdos Mike Newton Chris Goodwin MG-Lola EX257 65 MG (AER) XP20 2.0L Turbo I4 DNF LMP900 6 Intersport Racing Clint Field Rick Sutherland John Graham Riley & Scott Mk III C 23 Ford (Roush) 6.0L V8 DNS GT 31 RJ Cole Xero Competition Ricky Cole Peter Le Bas Paula Cook Chevrolet Corvette LM-GT - Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8 DNS LMP900 3 Team Nasamax Robbie Stirling Werner Lupberger Romain Dumas Reynard 01Q - 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

External links Racing Sports Cars - 2003 1000km of Le Mans