Although Henri Pescarolo had been racing, and winning, at Le Mans for many decades, he had always been driving for other teams. From 1994 to 1998, Pescarolo had been driving for the Courage Compétition squad with some success, but decided in 1999 that he would like to run his own team for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, although he would remain connected to Courage and would be a customer team of the factory's chassis. The team was initially known as the Pescarolo Promotion Racing Team, and would take a well-deserved ninth-place finish.
Following this success, Pescarolo decided that he would retire from racing as a driver, but remain in sports car racing as a team owner. On January 1, 2000, Pescarolo Sport was founded in the town of Le Mans, within the grounds of the Circuit de la Sarthe and near Courage Compétition's headquarters. Pescarolo remained close to Courage, using their C52 chassis, as well as reaching an agreement with Peugeot to supply new turbocharged engines. The team initially concentrated on the Le Mans 24 Hours, although they would also make an appearance at the American Le Mans Series event at Silverstone Circuit. In their first run at Le Mans, the team managed an impressive fourth-place finish for drivers Sébastien Bourdais, Olivier Grouillard, and Emmanuel Clerico, made even more impressive by the fact that the top three finishers were all from the factory Audi team.
