The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (shortened ILMC) was an

endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from a ...

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

tournament organised by the

Automobile Club de l'Ouest The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organ ...

(ACO) started in 2010.ACO links Le Mans series' with Intercontinental Cup
- Motorsport.com, December 8, 2009 The plans were first announced in June 2009ACO adds trophies, expands driving school
- Motorsport.com, June 11, 2009LMP1 teams urged into more series
- Autosport, June 11, 2009 and confirmed in December of the same year. Both

sports prototype A sports prototype, sometimes referred to as simply a prototype, is a type of race car that is used in the highest-level categories of sports car racing. These purpose-built racing cars, unlike street-legal and production-based racing cars, are n ...

s and

grand tourer A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...

s were eligible to compete for the ILMC: the LMP1 and GTE classes each had a manufacturers cup, whereas all ACO classes had teams cups as long as there were at least four entries.Le Mans Intercontinental Cup – GT2 added!
- Planet Le Mans, March 19, 2010 In 2010 also the GT1 class was eligible for the final time. Peugeot was totally dominant winning 9 out of the 10 races during the two years. For 2012, the ACO and the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

announced the creation of a new

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

. This championship would use similar rules to and would replace the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

History

The 2010 calendar comprised the 1000 km Silverstone (Silverstone, United Kingdom, September 12), the

Petit Le Mans The Petit Le Mans (French for ''little Le Mans'') is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which ...

(Road Atlanta, United States, October 2) and the 1000 km

Zhuhai Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of Pearl ...

(Zhuhai, China, November 7).The ACO press conference – a look at the future!
- Planet Le Mans, June 10, 2010 Meanwhile, the 2011 calendar expanded to seven events. Along with the Silverstone (six-hour race) and Petit Le Mans races on similar dates, the championship started with the 12 Hours of Sebring (Sebring, United States, March) before moving into Europe to contest a six-hour race at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...

in Belgium on May, the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

(Le Mans, France, June 11–12), and another six hour race at the

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

circuit in Italy on July. The season finale was held in China on the

circuit.ILMC: Petit Le Mans Confirmed For 2011
- SPEED TV, November 29, 2010

Champions

References

External links

Official website
{{Automobile Club de l'Ouest Sports car racing series Endurance motor racing Recurring sporting events established in 2010 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2011