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55-567: Following Dallara's work in constructing the Toyota GT-One in 1998, Audi R8R in 1999, and Audi R8 in 2000, the company decided to use their expertise to develop their own Le Mans Prototype for the LMP900 class in 2001, specifically for use by customer teams as an alternative to the factory-backed efforts. While the design of the SP1 was still being completed, Chrysler Corporation was in

110-678: A GTP class prototype. Although the CLK-LM required extensive modifications to become the CLR, the GT-One was already close enough to a prototype that an extensive redesign was not needed. Toyota began an extensive testing program, including a long distance test at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium soon after a snowfall. In the official testing session at Le Mans, the GT-Ones were again fast, taking

165-538: A fifth-place finish, then a fourth. The team did not return for the rest of the season, though, quickly ending Dallara's involvement in 2003. For 2004, two SP1s would be purchased by the new team Rollcentre Racing of the United Kingdom. Rollcentre would debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring , continuing the strong performance of SP1s at Sebring by taking fifth place after running 3rd, a broken throttle cable dropping them down to 5th. Rollcentre would then concentrate on

220-590: A heavily upgraded version of the engine they originally used on their Group C cars, the twin-turbocharged 3.6 L (220 cu in) R36V V8. TTE also developed the only two GT-One road cars built, required in order for the race car to qualify as a road car-based grand tourer. They were painted red and fitted with a basic interior. One was put into a museum in Japan, and the other is displayed at Toyota Motorsport GmbH headquarters in Cologne. Introduced in time for

275-432: A loophole which Mercedes-Benz had exploited. All GT-class cars were required to have storage space capable of holding a standard-size suitcase in order for the car to be considered not only production-based, but usable by the public. Mercedes exploited this by putting a small cubby hole into an unused area underneath the rear bodywork, although it was not as easy to access as a normal trunk. Toyota, in their interpretation of

330-471: A motor racing dating back to the 1930s, with a 2.8 km (1.7 mi) street circuit used in 1937 for a local race. The current Estoril circuit was built and completed in 1972 on a rocky plateau near the village of Alcabideche , 9-kilometre (5.6 mi) from Estoril , the town lending its name to the circuit. The course has two hairpin turns, noticeable elevation changes, and a long 0.986 km (0.613 mi) start/finish straight. Its original perimeter

385-596: A new GT car for 1998. (A MC8-R was entered for the 1997 race, but failed to qualify.) Turning to Toyota's European arm based in Cologne, Germany , Toyota Team Europe (TTE) and Dallara were tasked with development of the new GT car. With the one-year hiatus, TTE was able to observe what the competition was developing for the GT class, and exploit it to their benefit. In 1997, both the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR and

440-436: A point by finishing second to Prost at the 1984 Portuguese Grand Prix ; three-time world champion Ayrton Senna 's first F1 win in 1985 ; Nigel Mansell 's notorious black flag incident and subsequent collision with Senna in 1989 ; Riccardo Patrese being launched airborne in a near-backward flip after colliding with Gerhard Berger on the main straight in 1992 ; and Jacques Villeneuve overtaking Michael Schumacher around

495-478: A quick end after the first race of LMES saw the car fail after twenty laps; the team withdrew their Le Mans entry and were dissolved. Going into 2005, Rollcentre had repaired SP1 chassis 004 for use in a two-car effort in the Le Mans Endurance Series. Chassis 004 had its Judd V10 replaced with a new Nissan engine, in a partnership with Nissan Motorsports to experiment with the engine to test

550-577: A result of an LMP class restructuring in 2006. Marlboro was the Toyota GT-One sponsor in 1999 (hence the white chevron with red body livery), though an anti-tobacco law in France meant that no Marlboro logos appeared anywhere on the car. In pictures of practice sessions, Marlboro barcodes across the front of the car (which also appeared on Ferrari Formula One cars during tobacco legislated races) were seen, although these barcodes did not appear on

605-529: A two-car effort for Le Mans while the third car would be used in the FIA Sportscar Championship . In the first race of the season, the SP1 showed its potential by finishing second behind a Pescarolo Sport , then followed this up by gaining its first win at Autódromo do Estoril . For Le Mans, the SP1s continued to show the pace they had in 2001, taking the fourth-fastest qualifying time behind

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660-656: Is a motorsport race track on the Portuguese Riviera , outside of Lisbon , owned by state-run holding management company Parpública . Its length is 4.182 km (2.599 mi). It was the home of the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix from 1984 to 1996. The circuit has an FIA Grade 1 license. Estoril, a vacation-destination beach town located 32 km (20 mi) west of the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon has had

715-765: The Grand American Road Racing Championship , with drivers Didier Theys and Mauro Baldi . Doran's SP1, which was slightly modified to meet the SRP regulations yet would install the Judd GV4 (later upgraded to a GV5) like Oreca, was a championship contender in the series. In its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona , the Doran took the overall win by six laps, earning the Dallara its first victory. Doran would continue with their winning ways by taking

770-510: The Porsche 911 GT1 were dominant cars in their class that exploited loopholes in the rules. Each car was a custom-built supercar, and only a handful of production cars were built to homologate them. TTE realized that they would actually only need to build a single production car in order to meet homologation requirements; since the resulting car would never be sold to a customer, typical driver luxuries could be left out. Toyota also learned about

825-544: The 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, the GT-One first appeared during the official testing period for the race held in May. Three GT-Ones appeared, setting the 2nd, 5th, and 10th best times and easily beating out dedicated Le Mans Prototypes (LMPs), which were meant to be the superior class. For the race week itself, all three cars performed admirably in qualifying by continuing their quick pace, qualifying 2nd, 7th, and 8th, and being beaten only by GT class competitor Mercedes-Benz . During

880-458: The 1st, 3rd, and 5th fastest lap times. This pace continued in qualifying for the race, as the three GT-Ones took 1st, 2nd, and 8th positions. Throughout the race, the GT-Ones battled for the lead with BMW and Mercedes. Unfortunately, the GT-One was hampered by higher fuel consumption (1 or 2 laps less per stint than BMW) and by failures of its Michelin tires throughout the race, mostly caused by sharp gravel which had been accidentally brought onto

935-556: The Autódromo do Estoril held its first Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix , an event held annually. On 23 October 2005, the circuit hosted the third round of the first ever A1 Grand Prix racing season , with both races in the event being won by the French team. The track hosted Superleague Formula series events in 2008 and 2009. In 2020, due to rescheduling of major international sport series due to COVID-19 pandemic , Estoril hosted

990-491: The Mopar V8 would be replaced by Judd V10s, ranging from 4.0 litres to 5.0 litres, for use by privateers. In 2005, Rollcentre Racing would install a turbocharged Nissan VQ V6 based on a JGTC unit, in an agreement with Nissan Motorsports for testing the possible use of the engine in a customer program. The project would however be considered a failure. An X-Trac 6-speed sequential-shift gearbox unit would be used throughout

1045-517: The Pescarolo driven by Sebastian Bourdais ran into Short, causing unseen damage to the left rear suspension, which subsequently failed in the Porsche curves. Rollcentre then switched to their second Dallara chassis 006 for the rest of the year. Another SP1 had also been bought in 2004, by Italian squad Spinnaker Clandesteam, for use in the Le Mans Endurance Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans. This came to

1100-461: The Reynard, Chrysler approached Dallara and decided to use the SP1 that Dallara was still in the process of completing. With a partnership agreed upon, the cars became known as Chrysler LMPs, and would use a Mopar 6.0L V8. Oreca assisted Dallara in the development of the SP1 chassis, leading to its chassis using the designation DO (Dallara-Oreca). Following Chrysler's withdrawal from the program,

1155-542: The car fourth place in the teams championship. The Nissan-powered car suffered various problems throughout the season, however, scoring no points until Nissan officially ended the project and a Judd engine was placed back in the car. For Le Mans, both cars were entered, with the Nissan-powered car yet again failing to finish, while the Judd-powered SP1 took a distant 16th-place finish after actually leading

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1210-651: The car to look after it for historica races. Martin Short owns the 006 car, and has run a number of events, winning class in the Masters Endurance Legeneds at Spa, Brands Hatch and Silverstone in 2017/18, and in 2019 carried out demo runs along with the sister 004 car at Goodwood members meeting in March. A total of six Dallara SP1s were built, with three being known as Chrysler LMPs. SP1s #DO 001 (4 victories), #DO 003 (1 victory) and #DO 005 (1 victory) were

1265-560: The class. Mercedes-Benz opted to evolve their CLK LM into the CLR in the closed cockpit LMGTP prototype class, while Nissan and Panoz opted for open-cockpit LMPs. Porsche dropped out of competition altogether. Newcomer Audi decided to build cars for both the GTP and LMP classes, while BMW continued in the LMP class as before. Toyota decided to follow the route of Mercedes and evolve the GT-One into

1320-610: The end of Toyota's attempts at Le Mans, which had started in 1985, until its return in 2012 with the TS030 Hybrid closed-cockpit LMP1 prototype in the FIA World Endurance Championship . With Mercedes-Benz pulling out and Audi discontinuing their LMGTP competitor, the Audi R8C , no LMGTP entrants appeared in the next year's race; only Bentley continued to compete in the class until it was abolished as

1375-520: The end of the Group C era around 1994, Toyota decided to alter its plans in sports car racing by moving to the production-based grand touring (GT) classes for 1995. Toyota decided to use a two-pronged approach with two different competition car models. The first was a heavily modified Toyota Supra , referred to as the Supra LM, which would use a turbocharged Toyota 503E inline-4. The second entry

1430-528: The end, the GT-One would fall short once again, finishing 2nd and only one lap behind the winning R391. However, Toyota won the LMGTP class (the R391 being an LMP), which would have granted them automatic entry to 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans had they continued the GT-One program. The GT-One program would not be continued into 2000, Toyota instead turning TTE into the leaders of the new Toyota F1 team. This would mark

1485-458: The final race car. The logos were also absent during the Fuji 1000 km race, which was held in Japan, a country with no tobacco sponsorship restrictions at the time. Other sponsors included Zent (#1), Venture Safenet (#2) and Esso (#3 and Fuji 1000 km). A total of seven GT-Ones were built over the two years of the program. The first six were built in 1998, while the final chassis

1540-483: The history of the SP1, although it was upgraded in 2005 by Rollcentre to use a paddle-shift system. The SP1's design was very different from prototypes like the Audi R8, using many curved design elements including a large, rounded nose and footbox and sweeping fenders. The SP1 also featured a large air intake nacelle located on the side of the chassis, although this was later moved to a more tradition location on top near

1595-526: The new European Le Mans Series for an opportunity to test their new car in competition. Appearing at Donington Park , the Chrysler LMP managed to qualify in fourth place behind three Audi R8s. Mechanical problems, however, saw the car finish well down the order, nearly 40 laps behind the winning R8s. With more testing following their debut at Donington, the team was able to improve and the three Chrysler LMPs appeared at Le Mans showing some speed. One of

1650-414: The new Le Mans Endurance Series , earning a best finish of fifth place at Monza and taking eighth place in the teams championship. For Le Mans, Rollcentre entered a lone car, and performed well and at 6.30 am on Sunday, they were running in 4th place overall (in the teams first Le Mans 24) until they were taken out in a large accident for team owner Martin Short caused by damage from a previous incident where

1705-487: The next two rounds at Homestead-Miami Speedway and California Speedway , with a final victory on the season at Mont-Tremblant. Doran would end up taking second place in the team's championship, a mere nine points behind Dyson Racing . Doran would also make an appearance at the American Le Mans Series ' 12 Hours of Sebring , although it would fail to finish due to an accident. For 2003, Doran would be

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1760-525: The only chassis to score victories in their non historic lifetime. Chassis 006 has scored 3 class victories in Masters Endurance Legends. #DO 001 #DO 002 #DO 003 #DO 004 #DO 005 #DO 006 Toyota GT-One The Toyota GT-One (model code TS020 ) is a racing car initially developed for Group GT1 rules, but later adapted into an LMGTP car. It raced in the 1998 and 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans . Following

1815-429: The only ones to use a Dallara SP1. Due to changing Grand-Am regulations, the team would not return. Instead, the team would turn to the American Le Mans Series , starting the season at the 2003 12 Hours of Sebring . The car would manage a seventh-place finish, again just behind a trio of Audi R8s and a duo of Bentley V8s, with a lone Panoz managing to beat out the privateer Dallara. The next two rounds saw Doran taking

1870-427: The outside of the final turn in 1996 . Throughout the years, Estoril has had numerous problems with safety, failing safety inspections on more than one occasion. After the death of Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix , a chicane was added which increased the circuit length to 4.360 km (2.709 mi). Estoril sometimes has strong winds. Many teams were fond of using Estoril for winter testing. Estoril

1925-632: The owning company having been taken over by the state between 1975 and 1978, and a significant redevelopment effort was needed before international motorsport returned in 1984. In the 1980s, the Rally de Portugal also had a special stage at the circuit. Estoril became a popular event on the F1 calendar, the setting for many well-known moments including Niki Lauda winning the 1984 championship, his third and final, from McLaren teammate Alain Prost by just half

1980-608: The possibility of Nissan providing it as a customer unit in the future. Rollcentre had upgraded the SP1's gearbox with a paddle-shift unit in 2004 and now both cars had it. Rollcentre decided to debut their Nissan-powered SP1 at the 12 Hours of Sebring , although the car would fail to finish due to problems with the Nismo engine. Back in Europe after a switch from Dunlops to Michelins, Rollcentre's Judd-powered car would have strong performances, including three straight podium finishes, earning

2035-424: The process of expanding their Le Mans program. Following years of success with their Chrysler Viper GTS-R program, including three class wins, Chrysler had begun development work in the use of a Le Mans Prototype, including running two Reynard prototypes in 2000. For 2001 Chrysler, with partner Oreca , decided to concentrate solely on prototypes, ending their Viper program. Looking for a more capable car to replace

2090-503: The race 25 laps behind the winning Porsche 911 GT1 . Following the success of the GT1 class as a whole over the LMP class, the ACO and FIA moved to change the regulations for the GT classes, requiring a large amount of production vehicles for the GT classes and eliminating the original loopholes in the system. Toyota were thus forced to make changes to the GT-One, as were all their competitors in

2145-401: The race itself, the #28 GT-One suffered from a high-speed accident halfway through the race, taking it out of competition. The two other entrants continued to race, both remaining in the top 10. However, within the closing hours, the higher-ranked #29 GT-One suffered a gearbox failure in competition for the win, leaving Toyota to take 9th place in the race with the remaining #27 entry, which ended

2200-406: The race outright early Saturday evening, although the lead was never credited as it took place whilst the lead Audi was in the pits, and regained the lead going into Mulsanne corner. The car though was running a very strong 2nd place against strong opposition . A power steering fluid leak as night came on caused serious issues, requiring the team to pit stop almost double the nowmal amount and the race

2255-546: The race. The lone remaining Chrysler was left to take a fourth-place finish, 23 laps behind the winning Audi R8. Even with a fourth-place finish in their debut, Chrysler Corporation decided that the Le Mans project was no longer fruitful, and they canceled the entire program at the end of 2001. Chrysler's partner, Oreca , decided to continue on with the program as a privateer, replacing the Mopar V8 engines with Judd GV4 V10s. Although purchasing three SP1s, Oreca decided to use

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2310-486: The racing surface by other cars. The design of the GT-One's wheel wells allowed for a blown tire to cause extensive damage to the mechanical linkages inside; after only 90 laps, the #1 GT-One driven by Martin Brundle was lost when it suffered an explosive tire puncture and was damaged beyond repair, unable to return to the pits and being abandoned on the track. Halfway into the event, the #2 GT-One driven by Thierry Boutsen

2365-530: The rear uses a custom racing structure). While the Supra performed admirably in 1995, the MC8-R would appear superior in 1996. With its development of high-powered GT race cars, Toyota decided that a car similar to the MC8-R, designed as a race car first and foremost, would be better suited to continue Toyota's GT racing efforts. Thus, Toyota announced they would skip the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans to be able to develop

2420-439: The rollover hoop. The design would also incorporate the use of multiple dive plans, including the first use of some on the nose. Later, vertical boards would be added to the rear tail in order to help increase downforce in conjunction with the rear wing. As part of their deal with Chrysler, Dallara promised to provide three SP1s for use in the 2001 24 Hours of Le Mans . However, in preparation for their Le Mans debut, Chrysler used

2475-429: The rules, were able to convince Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) officials that the car's fuel tank, normally empty when the car is scrutineered before the race, qualified as trunk space since it could theoretically hold a suitcase. With these loopholes in place, TTE was able to set out in developing the GT-One. TTE designed and manufactured the car's carbon fibre chassis and bodywork in-house, while Toyota supplied

2530-462: The team was still active. BMW and Panoz were the only teams continuing without major problems. During the final hour of the race, the lone GT-One driven by Ukyo Katayama was chasing the remaining BMW for the lead, but suffered a tire failure while lapping traffic. Having lost the chance to challenge for the lead, it was forced to slowly continue along the track to return to the pits for a new set. The lone GT-One would finish 2nd overall, one lap behind

2585-618: The three entries managed to take the sixth fastest qualifying time (Olivier Beretta driving), beating out both of the Bentley EXP Speed 8s . During the race itself, the Chryslers were able to remain in the top ten for most of the race until mechanical woes took out one entry halfway through the race. In the final hours, while running fourth and fifth, another Chrysler LMP suffered a fire on the Mulsannes straight, taking it out of

2640-451: The trio of R8s. In the race itself, both SP1s performed well, remaining immediately behind the leading R8s and Bentley for the entire race, finishing in fifth and sixth place overall, both cars 16 laps behind the winner. Oreca would not continue with the SP1s, deciding to take a brief hiatus from prototypes to work on other projects. Besides Oreca's efforts, one of Chrysler's former SP1s was purchased by American team Doran Racing for use in

2695-438: The winning BMW. As a consolation prize, the GT-One would win the GTP class, although it was the only car in the class to actually finish. The GT-One would race once more, a single entrant appearing in the 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000 km . Although the race mostly consisted of Japanese teams, thus leaving out most of the manufacturers that had competed at Le Mans, Toyota still had to compete against rival Nissan, who entered an R391. In

2750-592: Was 4.350 km (2.703 mi), and the maximum gradient is nearly 7%. Monsanto Park , another street circuit in Lisbon hosted a variety of motor racing events in the 1950s, including the 1959 Portuguese Grand Prix , an event it shared briefly with the Boavista street circuit in Porto . Its first years saw many national races, as well as an occasional Formula 2 race. However, the course soon fell into disrepair due to

2805-567: Was a purpose-built racing car, with a small number of production cars built to meet homologation regulations. Powered by a turbocharged Toyota 1UZ V8, this car was modified heavily from the Toyota MR2 , and became known as the SARD MC8-R . The overall design of the Porsche 911 GT1 was also imitated by the MC8R (wherein the front chassis parts are modified from the original road car, and

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2860-469: Was built in 1999. LM804 was the only car to race in both 24 Hours of Le Mans. LM804 and LM805 were the only cars to finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the former as car #3 in 1999 and the latter as car #27 in 1998. Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap. Aut%C3%B3dromo do Estoril The Circuito do Estoril or Autódromo do Estoril ( Estoril Circuit ), officially known as Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva ,

2915-646: Was dropped from the F1 calendar for the 1997 season , though it continued to play host to top-level single-seater, sports car and touring car events, including the FIA GT Championship , the DTM and the World Series by Renault . A new redesign of the parabolica turn which saw its length reduced to 4.182 km (2.599 mi) was implemented in 2000 in order to obtain FIM homologation. On 3 September 2000,

2970-643: Was gone. Following the 2005 season, Le Mans Prototype regulations were changed, leaving the SP1s no longer legal. Although extensive modification could have allowed the SP1 to become legal in 2006, Rollcentre Racing decided to switch to a new car in a new class. Thus the Dallara SP1s career came to an end. Chassis 004 was sold to the USA by Rollcentre, but then found its way back to the UK, now owned by James Cottingham , and Max Girado. Rollcentre were then reunited with

3025-504: Was lost in another tire puncture that led to a high-speed accident, destroying the car and ending Boutsen's racing career. This left the team with only car #3, which was still running at the top of the field. At this point, a large amount of the competition had been eliminated, with all Mercedes cars out of the race due to their famous accident and withdrawal. Audi had also lost two of their four cars, and Nissan had lost their factory-backed R391 , although an older Courage C52 campaigned by

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