The race originated as the Coppa Intereuropa in 1949, run on a 6.300 km circuit. The distance was expanded to 1,000 kilometres in 1954. A 10.000 km circuit configuration — incorporating the banked oval at Monza — was used in 1956, and the race returned to the shorter 6.3 km layout the following year. The race became part of the FIA GT Cup in 1960 and 1961, then joined the World Sportscar Championship in 1963, initially as a three-hour event for production-based cars before expanding to the full 1,000 km distance in 1965.
Until 1969, the full Monza circuit including the banked oval was used. Chicanes were added in 1965 at the south curve banking and in 1966 at the opposite banking to reduce speeds, creating a lap distance of 10.100 km for a total of 100 laps. From 1970 onward, the shorter 5.793 km Grand Prix circuit was used more regularly. Starting procedure shifted in 1971 from a standing start under the Italian tricolour to a rolling start format.
The race was part of the World Sportscar Championship calendar in most seasons between 1965 and 1992. When the championship split in 1976 into two parallel series — the World Championship for Makes for production-based cars and the World Sports Car Championship for prototypes — the Monza race was eligible for the prototype series in 1976 and 1977. When that prototype series was cancelled in 1978, the race was reconfigured to 320 km and became part of the European Sportscar Championship.
The race returned to the World Sportscar Championship in 1980 and remained on the calendar until the series' demise in 1992. It was cancelled in 1989 due to financial difficulties with the Automobile Club of Milan combined with paddock and pit box reconstruction work.
After 1992 the race was used intermittently by various series. The BPR Global GT Series included it in 1995 and 1996 using a four-hour format for GT cars. The FIA Sportscar Championship hosted a 1,000 km round in 2001. The race returned to the 500 km distance in 1999 for the SportsRacing World Cup, then reverted to 1,000 km in 2001. It became part of the Le Mans Series from 2004, was cancelled in 2006 due to noise pollution protests from local residents, returned in 2007 following negotiations, then was not held again from 2009 to 2020.
The race was revived as a six-hour event for the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season. Three editions were held between 2021 and 2023, with the Italian round of the WEC subsequently moving to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola from 2024 onward.
The 1000km Monza holds a distinct place in sportscar racing history as one of the marquee Italian events alongside the Targa Florio and the Mille Miglia. Its high-speed character — particularly in the era when the banked circuit was used — made it a circuit where outright engine power was decisive, and the race produced some of the most memorable machinery of the 1960s and 1970s, from the Ferrari prototypes of the early World Championship years through the Porsche 917s and Group C cars of subsequent decades.
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