2001 European Le Mans Series

A lack of interest from the European racing community and competition from the FIA's series, meant that this would be the only season of ELMS.

This led to the 2000 American Le Mans Series season, which included two races in Europe as the Nürburgring and Silverstone Circuit, as well as a round in Australia.

These races would serve as a precursor to what would become the separate European Le Mans Series in 2001.

At the same time, the ELMS races at Donington Park and Jarama were considered optional for ALMS teams.

Of the ALMS teams that did race, nearly all were factory backed squads that had the money to spend on transporting their equipment to Europe.

The demise of the European Le Mans Series would not be the end of sportscar racing in Europe.

These two events served as a precursor to the planned APLMS series, and at the time of the creation of ELMS, Don Panoz announced his intention to hold an exhibition APLMS race at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia in late 2001.

Besides Sebring, Estoril, and Petit Le Mans, all events were 2 hours and 45 minutes in length.

Teams which participated at Sebring and Petit Le Mans but did not attend any European events are also not counted towards the ELMS championships.