Description:

• The first chassis built by Pescarolo Sport

• PLAYSTATION iconic livery from 2007 to 2009

• A superb track record: Le Mans Series from 2007 to 2009 - 24 hours of Le Mans in 2007 and 2008 with a podium finish at the 1000 km of Silverstone in 2008

• Driven by legends of Endurance: JC Bouillon, H Primat, C Tinseau, B Tréluyer, J Barbosa, R Dumas, E Collard 

• Upgraded in 2011 01 EVO specifications with new aero pack and Judd V10 5-litre engine

• In 2011, the #08 01 EVO chassis (sister car to the #01 offered for sale) won two rounds of the Le Mans Series Championship and enabled its drivers to take the drivers' title.

• Eligible for the Masters Endurance Legends series in Europe and the US, Sebring Classic and Daytona Classic

In 2000, when he launched his own racing team, Henri Pescarolo, a Le Mans legend, was once again to score a number of successes. The cars, which were extensively transformed by the brilliant engineer André de Cortanze, were Courage chassis. 

The Pescarolo 01 chassis 01 that Ascott Collection is proud to offer for sale is the very first LMP1 to be entirely designed and built by Henri Pescarolo and his teams in the Technoparc workshops on the Le Mans circuit. The car has been in action for three seasons and has twice competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours, with drivers including Le Mans winners Romain Dumas and Benoît Tréluyer battling it out with the formidable Audi and Peugeot diesel cars.

The birth of the Pescarolo 01 LMP1

In 2006, the former driver turned boss explained why he had embarked on such a project: "Over the last three years, we have designed and built our own car around the C60 chassis. So we were ready to build our own car, which is a much more interesting project. From the outset, it was agreed to offer customer versions of this Pescarolo 01, priced at €600,000 each.

Aerodynamic development was carried out during high-speed tests at the Brétigny-sur-Orge military airbase. Although this is an in-house car, its front bodywork bears a strong resemblance to the 2006 Pescarolo-Judd. 

It was at the end of 2006 (on 19 and 20 December) that the first chassis and all its safety equipment passed all the homologation tests, as soon as it was presented for the first time. A series of six chassis went into production, testifying to the ambitions of the new French manufacturer.

As for the engine, Pescarolo has entrusted Judd with the 5.5-litre V10 GV. This choice is a continuation of the one made in 2004, when the collaboration with Peugeot-Sodemo came to an end.

History: A track debut in 2007

Chassis 01 made its first public appearance during testing at Paul Ricard prior to the start of the Le Mans Series season in March 2007. The car's provisional black body was elegant and sober, and was later replaced by a livery featuring the colours of France and the green so dear to Pescarolo.

A 2007 season already on the pace

On its first race appearance, chassis 01 shone with a fine fourth place at Monza, the opening round of the 2007 Le Mans Series. The #17 Pescarolo only surrendered the third step of the podium to the #8 Peugeot 908 at the end of the race, following an impressive comeback by Sarrazin/Lamy.

For the second race of the season, and for the first time since September 2005, no Pescarolo driver took the podium in Valencia. The two Pescarolo-Judd cars finished fifth and sixth respectively. The #17 Pescarolo started from the back of the grid, a mechanic having cut the car's power by mistake while it was on the grid. As he was pulling away from all the GTs, Harold Primat made slight contact with a Ferrari which punctured his rear tyre. The Primat / Tinseau tandem made a superb comeback, finishing sixth, hot on the heels of the n°16.

During the test day at Le Mans, the new Pescarolo 01 was quicker, improving on the times set by the Pescarolo-Judd in 2006 by almost 2 seconds per lap. Christophe Tinseau, Harold Primat and Benoit Tréluyer finished 13th with a time of 3'38''753, and were cautious on the wet track as they tried to find the right set-up for the race. In the N°16 car, Emmanuel Collard had managed an impressive 3'33''590 earlier on Wednesday evening, making the Pescarolo 01 the best private LMP1 car behind the Audis and Peugeots. 

In the race, Audi dominated and won. The battle with Peugeot was intense, but the Pescarolos put in an exceptional performance with the n°16 finishing on the podium, while the n°18 (Roll Centre Racing team) was fourth. 

In addition, Pescarolo Sport, with its British client Roll Centre, was the only manufacturer to have all the cars entered under its brand name at the finish. This was "proof of the seriousness with which the Pescarolo Sport team designed and built its first car: the Pescarolo 01", according to the team's press release. Unfortunately for the #17 Pescarolo-Judd (chassis 01), an oil pump problem necessitated a lengthy mechanical intervention. Relegated to 42nd, Harold Primat, Christophe Tinseau and Benoît Tréluyer made a superb comeback to reach 13th position. The drivers testified that they never gave up!

The end of the season for chassis 01 ended with a fine 4th place at Spa-Francorchamps.

2008: Resistance to Audi, Peugeot and the growing number of petrol LMP1s: Podium at the Silverstone 1000 km race

In 2008, the battle behind Audi and Peugeot became even more intense for the Pescarolo LMP1s. The Aston Martin engine (used by the Charouz Racing Systems team in the Lola B08/60, in preparation for the return of the British marque) developed surprising power. At the first race of the season in Barcelona, the starting grid showed this to be the case: the diesels at the front, the Lola in between, and the Courage-Oreca next to the Pescarolo, both powered by Judd. Jean-Christophe Boullion and Emmanuel Collard finished 4th with chassis 01, despite a complicated race due to the failure of their traction control.

At Monza, a broken brake disc during the race forced them to retire from third place. At Spa-Francorchamps, for the final race before the Le Mans 24 Hours, the two drivers led a sumptuous battle with Nicolas Lapierre and Olivier Panis in their Oreca. Separated by just a few seconds before a safety car entered the track and positioned itself between Olivier Panis and Emmanuel Collard, the two drivers found themselves one lap apart at the end of the safety procedure, relegating the Pescarolo 01 to 5th position. Bad luck!

At Le Mans, testing was complicated for chassis 01 (n°16). Coming into the Porsche corner, where the engine of an Aston Martin had just spilled oil on the track, Romain Dumas went violently off the track at 250 kph. In the purest tradition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Pescarolo team's mechanics worked until 4 a.m. to get the car back on track the next day. "Henri Pescarolo once said: "It's when the going gets tough that you recognise a great team. As Stéphane Menu, one of the former Pescarolo Sport drivers, told us, the Pescarolo 01 stands out for its solidity, as well as being a fast and reliable LMP1 petrol car. 

In the race, an engine problem prevented the n°16 from seeing the finish. In the sister car, Harold Primat, Christophe Tinseau and Benoît Tréluyer took the honorary top spot among petrol-powered cars, with the Audis and Peugeots taking the top five places. However, the competition between the petrol-powered cars was going to be tough, with sharp rivals such as the Courage-Oreca, the Lola, including the formidable Lola Aston Martin, the Dome, and the Creation.

At the Nürburgring, for the penultimate race of the 2008 season, the results just weren't there. Halfway through the race, Jean-Christophe Boullion was hindered by a slow car and hit a curb. The tyre disintegration that followed caused too much damage to the bodywork of the LMP1 car, which was forced to retire.

After the German round, two test sessions were organised - one at Bugatti, the other at Dijon - to test new aerodynamic and mechanical developments. The car made further progress. 

As proof, during the final round of the season at Silverstone, the Pescarolo chassis 01 of Jean-Christophe Boullion and Romain Dumas finished on the podium, outclassing the Audi R10 TDI of Prémat and Rockenfeller.​

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2009, the Pescarolo 01 chassis 0°1 begins the Le Mans Series season and sets the Bugatti lap record

In 2009, Pescarolo ran a dual programme consisting of two Pescarolo 01s and a Peugeot 908. The team became the first private team to enter a 908, before Oreca (in 2010).

In Barcelona, Bruce Jouanny and Joao Barbosa gave a fine sixth place to the Pescarolo chassis 01, now in its new black and green livery, while chassis 08 took 2nd place on the podium. Another fine performance for Pescarolo Sport.

Next up was the Bugatti for the men in green. For two days, Claude Galopin reviewed a multitude of configurations, both aerodynamic and mechanical, before concluding the tests with a splendid time set by Christophe Tinseau in : 1'23" 676. Never before had a prototype gone so fast on the Bugatti circuit, approaching the track record held by a single-seater!

Then came the final race for the Pescarolo 01 chassis 01. At Spa-Francorchamps, Bruce Jouanny in the #17 Pescarolo-Judd made a very good start to the race in sixth position, but a collision with a Lola cost him four laps before he got going again and began a fine comeback. Finally, a run-off caused by a broken rim on the Raidillon put an end to his hopes.​

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Pescarolo Sport goes bankrupt and is taken over by the Nicolet / Rivière tandem

The car was not raced again and Pescarolo Sport, which was in dire financial straits, went into liquidation. In 2010, no Pescarolo will line up at the start of the championship or at Le Mans. It was a gloomy year for Henri Pescarolo, who had taken part in 33 Le Mans 24-hour races and won 4 of them as a driver. 

The Pescarolo 01 chassis 01 and chassis 08 were sold at auction in October 2010. Jacques Nicolet and Joël Rivière were the main buyers. At the end of the auction, they symbolically handed over the keys to Henri Pescarolo so that he could continue the Pescarolo Sport adventure. 

For the 2011 season, the team rose from the ashes and entered just one car, chassis 08. Chassis 01 became a reserve car, present in the garage during the Le Mans 24 Hours. It received all the upgrades for 2011: the new aero pack (new bodywork) and the Judd 5-litre engine. There are only two Pescarolo 01 EVOs in existence, chassis #08 and chassis #01.

Why go from 5.5 litres to 5 litres?

The reduction in cubic capacity was dictated by changes in the regulations. From 2010, petrol LMP1s had to have a maximum displacement of 3.4 litres. Given the crisis and the difficult economic situation of certain teams such as Pescarolo Sport, an exemption was granted. The French team was allowed to keep the 5.5-litre Judd, provided that the diameters of its restrictors were reduced. The engine was supposed to develop a power close to that of the 3.4 litre. In a 2011 interview, Henri Pescarolo explained that the 5.5-litre engine had such small restrictors that it generated far too much vibration. For this reason, Pescarolo Sport opted for the 5-litre, which allowed him to keep the architecture of his car and benefit from larger diameter restrictors, thus allowing the engine to 'breathe' better. The Pescarolo 01 EVO performed extremely well, winning two rounds of the Le Mans Series Championship and enabling Pescarolo Sport to be vice-champion in 2011, while Julien Jousse and Emmanuel Collard, the car's drivers, won the drivers' title. Once again, Henri Pescarolo and his team demonstrated the extraordinary qualities of great champions. 

Continuation of his sporting career in historic races in the USA

Our Pescarolo 01 EVO was purchased in August 2011 by Fast Toys in the USA and entered in the 2015 Daytona Classic driven by its owner and a certain Christophe Tinseau, who was thus reunited with his 2007 LMP1. It was then sold to its current owner in May 2016. In 2018, its #GV529 Judd 5-litre engine was sent to Judd Power (UK) for overhaul and it was entered twice at the Daytona Classic in 2018 and 2019, finishing second and third respectively. At Watkins Glen, its owner took victory over the Pescarolo 01 LMP1 ex Roll Center.

This Pescarolo 01 EVO, of which only two exist, is one of the finest LMP1s ever built. At once high-performance, safe and rare, it is a very fine piece of machinery that deserves to be part of a fine collection and to continue its career in historic racing, since it is obviously eligible for the most prestigious historic races in America and the Masters Endurance Legends in Europe.

Photos : Wouter Melissen, John Brooks & John P Avery

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