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.

The ACO would instead attempt to attract factory backed teams with longer endurance races than ALMS and FIA SCC ran.

The series was initially previewed in an open race run under the LMES banner in 2003 at the 1000km of Le Mans, a one-off event before the season started in 2004.

In 2007, the Le Mans Series held its first and single overseas race in the continent of South America with Mil Milhas Brasil as the sixth round.

[2] During this year's season new ACO LMP2 Prototype Class regulations were introduced with licensed manufacturers such as Dallara, Onroak Automotive (Ligier), Oreca and the joint-venture Riley Tech/Multimatic with Gibson Technology being the exclusive engine supplier.

In 2020, with the season heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 4 Hours of Silverstone race would be dropped from the calendar due to a date not being able to be found.

[3] New ACO Generation II LMP3 ruleset regulation built cars were also eligible for the LMP3 Class in the category featuring manufactured chassis's such as the Ginetta G61-LT-P3, Ligier JS P320, Duqueine D-08, and the ADESS-03 Evo all of which use a VK56DE 5.6L Nissan V8 naturally aspirated engine.

In the 2021 season of the ELMS a LMP2 Pro-Am Cup Trophy was introduced aimed at teams who have bronze rated contracted drivers.

In the year 2025 season of the European Le Mans Series, it'll mark the debut of the new ACO Generation III LMP3 built car set eligible for the category featuring manufactured chassis's such as the Ginetta G61-LT-P3 Evo, Ligier JS P325, Duqueine D-09, and the ADESS AD25 all of which use a V35A 3.5L Toyota V6 twin turbo engine and Michelin tyres.