Pescarolo Sport
| Company type | Motorsport team |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motorsport |
| Founded | February 2000 |
| Founder | Henri Pescarolo, François Granet |
| Defunct | January 2013 |
| Headquarters | Le Mans , France |
Area served | International (Le Mans Series, 24 Hours of Le Mans) |
Key people | Henri Pescarolo (founder and team principal) |
| Products | Racing cars, motorsport services |
Pescarolo Sport was a French motorsport outfit headquartered in Le Mans, established in February 2000 by the French racing driver Henri Pescarolo alongside publisher François Granet. The team participated in competitions such as the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In October 2007, Henri Pescarolo took over Jacques Nicolet's Saulnier Racing, founding Pescarolo Automobiles and incorporating the racing division within this new entity. On 15 June 2010, Pescarolo Automobiles entered receivership; following liquidation, Henri Pescarolo repurchased the assets and rebranded the operation as Pescarolo Team for the 2011 season. Despite these efforts, ongoing financial struggles culminated in the team's dissolution in January 2013.
Racing history
Henri Pescarolo brought extensive experience from competing at Le Mans with various teams, most notably Courage Compétition between 1994 and 1998. In 1999, he initiated his own entry at Le Mans under the name Pescarolo Promotion Racing Team, achieving a ninth-place finish. Upon retiring from driving, he founded Pescarolo Sport on 1 January 2000 near the Circuit de la Sarthe, maintaining a partnership with Courage by utilizing their chassis coupled with Peugeot turbocharged engines. The team concentrated primarily on Le Mans and also competed at the American Le Mans Series event held at Silverstone, securing an impressive fourth-place finish at Le Mans behind the factory Audi teams.
In 2001, Pescarolo Sport expanded its operations by acquiring two new Courage C60 chassis to compete across multiple series: the American Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series, and FIA Sportscar Championship, alongside their Le Mans campaign. Although their performance at Le Mans resulted in a disappointing 13th place, they achieved victories at both the 1000km of Estoril and Magny-Cours within the FIA Sportscar Championship.
For the 2002 season, with designer André de Cortanze joining late in 2001, Pescarolo Sport committed to a full campaign in the FIA Sportscar Championship. They secured two additional wins and concluded the season second in the team standings behind Racing for Holland. At Le Mans that year, they finished in tenth position.
In 2003, despite early race wins and finishing eighth and ninth at Le Mans, financial difficulties arose following Peugeot’s withdrawal of engine support and reduced sponsorship. The team once again ended as runners-up to Racing for Holland in the championship.
With backing from Sony to promote PlayStation 2 and Gran Turismo 4, Pescarolo procured Judd GV5 V10 engines and commenced significant engineering enhancements to their Courage C60 chassis. Due to these extensive modifications, the cars were rebranded as Pescarolo C60s for 2004. Competing in the newly formed Le Mans Series, they finished tied for sixth overall and achieved fourth place at Le Mans, finishing ahead of one Audi.
The 2005 season marked considerable progress for Pescarolo Sport as they won two rounds of the Le Mans Series to secure their first championship title by a margin of two points. At Le Mans, they recorded their best-ever result: second place behind Audi by only two laps while setting the fastest lap of the race. With substantial support aiming to challenge Audi’s dominance after securing pole position, they established themselves firmly among the frontrunners.
In 2006, Pescarolo Sport dominated by winning all five events in the Le Mans Series to retain their championship decisively. At Le Mans, they repeated a runner-up finish behind Audi’s new diesel-powered R10 but ahead of its sister car.
Pescarolo 01
After the conclusion of the 2006 season, Pescarolo Sport engineered the Pescarolo 01 chassis for the 2007 campaign to comply with updated Le Mans Prototype regulations. This model, an evolution of the Pescarolo C60, marked Pescarolo's initial venture as a constructor offering the 01 chassis to customer teams competing in both LMP1 and LMP2 categories.
Following their own deployment of two vehicles, Pescarolo extended supply of the 01 chassis to Rollcentre Racing and Kruse Motorsport for participation in the Le Mans Series, running a dual-car effort featuring a new blue livery inspired by Henri Pescarolo’s 1970s Matra-Simca racing cars.
At the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pescarolo’s chassis demonstrated strong performance, with one team car securing an overall podium finish behind diesel-powered entries from Audi and Peugeot, while customer team Rollcentre achieved fourth place—the highest-ranking petrol-powered cars that year. Pescarolo Sport concluded the season ranked second in the LMP1 championship, ahead of one Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, with Rollcentre finishing fourth. Unfortunately, Kruse Motorsport’s LMP2 entry was forced to withdraw after their car was destroyed by fire.
2009 to 2012
In late 2008, Sora Composites completed full acquisition of Pescarolo Sport. The team enhanced the 01 chassis for the 2009 European Le Mans Series (ELMS), fielding two cars. During the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pescarolo entered both a diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDi FAP (borrowed from Peugeot) and their original Pescarolo-Judd vehicle. A crash involving the Peugeot led to financial difficulties. Under the Sora Racing banner, they secured victory in the 2009 Asian Le Mans Series with a race win and a runner-up finish.
Pescarolo Sport and Sora Racing had planned entries for the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, intending to run drivers from Gravity Sports Management. However, after Gravity Sports Management and Genii Capital withdrew support in April, both entries were officially withdrawn by May. Following liquidation proceedings in October, Jacques Nicolet and Joël Rivière acquired all assets and made them accessible to Henri Pescarolo.
Pescarolo Team returned to competition in the 2011 Le Mans Series with a single car, winning both its comeback race and season finale, ultimately securing the drivers’ championship. The vehicle featured a grandfathered 5-liter V10 engine restricted to power levels equivalent to a 3.4L V8 and competed alongside four Oak Racing-operated Pescarolo 01s at Le Mans.
The final competitive appearance of the Pescarolo 01 occurred at the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring, as part of preparations for entering the FIA World Endurance Championship with a new model derived from the problematic Aston Martin AMR-One chassis—designated as the Pescarolo 03. Entered as car #16 in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, it retired prematurely due to mechanical issues. Additionally, the team fielded a #17 Dome S102.5 which finished but was not classified due to insufficient distance covered relative to the winning Audi R18.
Financial setbacks emerged following unfulfilled funding commitments from Luxury Racing, compelling Henri Pescarolo to scale back operations. Consequently, Pescarolo Team underwent liquidation in early 2013.
Subsequent Pescarolo Sport iterations
From 2009 onwards, Sora Composites developed the Pescarolo 02 prototype for use by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest’s driving school at Circuit Bugatti. In 2014, a closed-cockpit variant was introduced targeting competition within the LMP3 category. On 19 May 2016, Jocelyn Pedrono assumed control of Pescarolo Sport and announced intentions to develop a closed-top Pescarolo 04 model aimed at a proposed LMP4 class. Despite lacking direct ties to Henri Pescarolo himself, these later models continued under the Pescarolo Sport brand.
In February 2023, Peugeot announced that Pescarolo Sport would campaign a Peugeot 9X8 during the 2024 season. However, the team was absent from the opening round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship held in Qatar, with Peugeot subsequently modifying the 9X8 by adding a rear wing before competing at Imola.