The series has its roots in earlier attempts to establish an Asian endurance championship. In 2000, Don Panoz initially conceived an Asian-Pacific Le Mans Series, modeled after his American Le Mans Series and planned European Le Mans Series. As a precursor to this, two preview events were held: the 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000km at Fuji Speedway, Japan, and the 2000 Race of a Thousand Years at the Adelaide Street Circuit-circuit) in Australia. However, the European Le Mans Series suffered from a lack of entrants during its debut season and was eventually canceled, leading Don Panoz to conclude that the APLMS would likely have even less interest, and thus those plans were scrapped. The ACO later developed the Japan Le Mans Challenge in 2006, overseen by the Sports Car Endurance Race Operation (SERO), but it too lacked competitors and was canceled after two seasons.
The AsLMS was relaunched for the 2013 season, with an announcement at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, the first race of the relaunched season saw only 8 cars start, the smallest grid in ACO-sanctioned racing at the time. This record was broken a year later when only six cars started the first race of the 2014 season at Inje. In 2015, the series shifted to a winter format spanning two calendar years, and the LMP3 class was added, with the GT class split into GT and GT Am. Michelin is the sole tire supplier for the series.
The ACO took over organization of the series from the S2M Group following the end of the 2014 season, prompted by low car counts and the cancellation of a scheduled round in Thailand. Plans for 2015 included a three-race calendar, expanding to five rounds by 2016. In October 2016, the Asian Le Mans Series announced a partnership with the GT Asia Series, including a new Michelin Asia GT Challenge, where the winner would receive an invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In January 2020, the series hosted its first race outside of Asia, the 4 Hours of The Bend at The Bend Motorsport Park in Australia. However, planned returns to The Bend did not materialize due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and a shift in series focus. The 2021 season marked the series’ first venture into the Middle East, with races at the Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina Circuit. The 2023-24 season saw the return of Sepang International Circuit to the calendar.
The format of the relaunched series mirrored the European Le Mans Series, with classes including LMP2, LMPC, GTC, and GTC Am. The LMP1 and LMGT1 categories were dropped, and the GTC class was opened to GT3 category cars, including those from the Super GT series GT300 teams. All classes required at least one amateur-rated driver and one driver of Asian nationality. The season champions of LMP2 and GTC received an invitation to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2023, a bronze pro-am rated driver became mandatory in each class, leading to the dropping of the LMP2 Am and GT Am classes. ACO's Generation II 2020 Regulation Built LMP3 Cars from manufacturers such as Ligier, ADESS, Ginetta & Duqueine Engineering were eligible starting in the 2021 season.
The series has held races on 10 different circuit venues across 7 countries since its inauguration in 2009. During the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend, the ACO announced that the premier class of the Asian Le Mans Series will be Hypercar (LMH or LMDh) starting in the 2026-27 season, limited to non-factory, privateer entries in a pro-am format with at least one bronze driver mandated.
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