The team was founded in 2010 out of a cooperation between Maurycy Kochański's Kochanski Motorsport and Michael Keese Motorsport. The joint effort competed first in Formula Ford and Formula Three, then in the Italian Formula Renault Championship in 2009, and in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup in 2010. When Kochański ran into financial problems at the end of that season, his share was taken over by Wojciech Śmiechowski, father of driver Jakub Śmiechowski and owner of Inter Europol SA. The team was renamed Inter Europol Competition in line with its new owner-sponsor.
The team remained a single-seater operation through the mid-2010s. Its drivers competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup from 2010 to 2016, with Jakub Śmiechowski's 12th-place overall in 2011 standing as the best result in that series. From 2014 the team also competed in BOSS GP, with Śmiechowski claiming the championship in 2014 and finishing runner-up in 2015.
2016 was the team's first year in endurance racing, with full entries in the European Le Mans Series and the V de V Endurance Series. The maiden LMP3 campaign in the ELMS, run with a Ligier JS P3 shared by Jakub Śmiechowski and Jens Petersen, produced a tenth-place overall. In V de V, Śmiechowski paired with Martin Hippe to claim the series championship.
In 2017 the team ran a single LMP3 entry in the ELMS, numbered 13, with Hippe replacing Petersen as Śmiechowski's regular co-driver. After a maiden podium at the 4 Hours of Castellet the team finished fifth overall in the LMP3 standings. The V de V championship was won again, this time with Śmiechowski and Hendrik Still in car 22.
In 2018 Inter Europol Competition fielded two Ligier JS P3 cars in the ELMS LMP3 class. Car 13, driven by Hippe and Śmiechowski, scored a race win at the 4 Hours of Portimão and a third place at the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring, finishing as championship runners-up. The second entry, car 14, cycled six drivers through the season and finished 15th. In V de V, Paul Scheuschner in car 33 finished third overall, while Śmiechowski and Pontus Fredriksson in car 22 placed fifth; that result closed the team's involvement in V de V.
The 2019 season opened with a campaign in the Asian Le Mans Series with Hippe and Śmiechowski in LMP3 car 13. The team claimed the overall victory and with it an invitation to the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In the ELMS, Inter Europol stepped up to LMP2 for the first time, purchasing a Ligier JS P217 alongside two LMP3 Ligier JS P3 entries. The LMP2 campaign produced only a 17th-place overall after frequent lineup changes. LMP3 car 13 finished second overall in the standings — a result that stood after a penalty in the final round and the rejection of the team's appeal — while car 14 placed 12th.
At Le Mans the team fielded the Ligier JS P217 with Śmiechowski, Nigel Moore, and James Winslow (who replaced Léo Roussel three weeks before the race following Roussel's back injury). The crew finished 45th overall and 16th in LMP2, hampered by persistent technical problems.
In 2020 the team again began with the Asian Le Mans Series, placing fourth with car 33 and fifth with car 34 in the LMP2 standings and third overall with LMP3 car 13. In the shortened ELMS season, LMP2 car 34 — the only Ligier on the grid — was joined by Rene Binder and Matevos Isaakyan alongside Śmiechowski for both the ELMS and Le Mans programmes; the crew finished 12th overall in the series. Martin Hippe, Nigel Moore, and Dino Lunardi in LMP3 car 13 took the team's third consecutive ELMS LMP3 vice-championship. At Le Mans the team finished 17th in class and 45th overall, again affected by technical and regulatory difficulties.
The 2020 season also included two IMSA starts using an Oreca 07 for the first time: third in LMP2 class at Petit Le Mans and fourth in class at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
For 2021 Inter Europol made their FIA World Endurance Championship debut with a single Oreca 07, car 34, driven by Śmiechowski, Renger van der Zande, Alex Brundle, and Louis Delétraz. The team consistently finished mid-pack, recording fifth place in four of six rounds, with a worst result of ninth at the 6 Hours of Bahrain. The debut WEC season ended in fifth place in the LMP2 standings.
Their third Le Mans start in 2021 was the team's best to that point: fifth in LMP2 and tenth overall, with Śmiechowski, Brundle, and van der Zande avoiding major errors aside from a puncture, an unfaulted collision with the Racing Team India Eurasia car, and a refuelling machine problem. In the concurrent ELMS LMP3 programme, car 13 — with Hippe, Ugo de Wilde, and rotating partners — scored three podiums including one win to finish fourth overall; car 14 finished sixth, the best result ever for that entry.
The 2022 WEC season was difficult throughout, with driver errors, technical problems, and lack of outright pace in most rounds. The team scored 20 points to place 11th in the standings. At Le Mans, cars 34 and 43 crossed the finish line 13th and 14th in class respectively; car 43 had been loaned from the DragonSpeed team after supply-chain issues delayed delivery of the purchased Oreca. The team's struggles were attributed in part to the sudden departure of the technical director and subsequent restructuring. In the ELMS, the LMP2 car revived in the second half of the season — including the team's first LMP2 podium, second at Spa-Francorchamps from the back of the grid — to finish eighth overall. The LMP3 entry was disqualified in the opening round, then won three consecutive races at Monza, Circuit de Catalunya, and Spa-Francorchamps before losing the championship in the final minutes of the season closer at Portimão when a collision between Nico Pino and Mathias Beche left the car with damage that proved terminal twelve minutes before the end of the race.
In 2023 the team ran its widest programme to date: two LMP2 cars at Le Mans, one LMP2 in WEC, two LMP2 and two LMP3 in ELMS, four LMP3 in Asian Le Mans Series, and three cars in Le Mans Cup. The WEC season ended with Śmiechowski, Albert Costa, and Fabio Scherer as LMP2 runners-up with 114 points — the team's final WEC season before LMP2 was removed from the series.
The high point of the 2023 season and the team's highest achievement to that date was victory in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans. Car 32, crewed by Jan Magnussen, Anders Fjordbach, and amateur driver Mark Kvamme in the Pro-am subclass, retired during the night after Magnussen's accident. The race-winning crew — Śmiechowski, Scherer, and Costa in car 34 — benefited from sound pacing and avoided major errors aside from Costa's minor off at Mulsanne's corner in the final hours and a drive-through penalty for a safety car infringement. Scherer drove more than eight hours despite having been struck in the leg by a Corvette Racing car when exiting the car in the first hour, sustaining ligament and heel damage and an incomplete fracture to his mid-left foot with three bones broken; he adjusted his braking technique and continued throughout. After the race, rivals including Louis Delétraz accused the team of breaching technical regulations, citing short refuelling times, low fuel consumption, and high acceleration. Following a procedure that lasted more than a month, the ACO and FIA technical delegates confirmed all cars, including the Polish team's Oreca, compliant with regulations.
The 2024 programme covered Le Mans (one LMP2 car), ELMS (two LMP2 and one LMP3), Le Mans Cup (two LMP3), and the IMSA SportsCar Championship (one LMP2). Because LMP2 was removed from the FIA WEC, the team's only WEC start in 2024 was Le Mans itself.
In IMSA, Inter Europol partnered with the American PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team for day-to-day operations, while driver selection — Nick Boulle, Tom Dillmann, and Śmiechowski — remained with the Polish side. A win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, podiums at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis, and consistent pace throughout — with seventh at Road America as the worst result — earned the IMSA LMP2 championship in the team's debut season. Boulle's bronze-driver classification also brought him an invitation to the 2025 Le Mans, which he chose to run with Inter Europol.
At the 92nd edition of Le Mans in 2024, Śmiechowski, Vladislav Lomko, and Clément Novalak finished second, 18 seconds behind the winners from United Autosports. In the fourth hour Novalak lost his left front wheel and returned to the pits on three wheels before an additional stop to change the front of the car; the Frenchman nonetheless brought the car home in second.
In the ELMS, the team achieved their first LMP2 win at Circuit Paul Ricard in a dramatic race and narrowly missed a 1-2. Consistency again proved decisive — seventh was the worst result in six rounds — bringing Dillmann, Lomko, and Sebastián Álvarez second place in the overall standings, despite finishing fourth in the season finale at Portimão after confusion over a penalty that was subsequently revoked.
The 2025 season saw an independent IMSA effort from a new US base, without PR1/Mathiasen. The team finished third overall after winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in the final minutes, three second places, and low results in the remaining rounds due to mechanical failures. Tom Dillmann suffered a serious accident at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after a late-race suspension failure while leading; he underwent surgery on his injured spine and was replaced at Road America by BMW driver Connor De Phillippi.
Two Le Mans invitations arrived for 2025 — one for Boulle via the IMSA Jim Trueman Award and one for the team for finishing second in the 2024 ELMS. Car 43, with Śmiechowski, Dillmann, and new team driver Nick Yelloly, won the race for Inter Europol's second Le Mans victory. The car led from the morning before receiving a drive-through penalty 34 minutes from the finish for Yelloly's speeding in the pit lane; the lead was regained minutes later after the VDS Panis Racing car 48, which had moved ahead, suffered a suspension failure. Yelloly finished with nearly two minutes in hand.
The battle with VDS Panis Racing continued in the 2025 ELMS, where it ended in favour of the French team despite five second-place results in six rounds for Śmiechowski, Dillmann, and Yelloly. In the Asian Le Mans Series early in 2025 the team scored one podium from twelve starts, earning last place in the overall standings for both LMP3 entries.
For 2026 the team entered the same series as in the two preceding years. The year opened with a double entry at the 24 Hours of Daytona, yielding the team's first double LMP2 podium: car 43, driven by Dillmann, Jeremy Clarke, Bijoy Garg, and António Félix da Costa, finished second; car 343, with Śmiechowski, Nick Cassidy, Nolan Siegel, and Georgios Kolovos, placed third. In the Asian Le Mans Series, the LMP3 car 13 — driven by returning driver Alexander Bukhantsov and new entrants Chun-Ting Chou and Henry Cubides Olarte — took three wins and one second place but was awarded the series runner-up title after a victory in the first Abu Dhabi round was cancelled by disqualification when damper covers broke off during the event and were not repaired, a violation of technical regulations following a protest by eventual champions CLX Motorsport.
Inter Europol Competition has indicated intentions to compete in the Hypercar class since 2021, with team management repeatedly citing the significant costs of fielding a top-class prototype and the need for manufacturer support. Industry media reported in January 2026 that the team would field at least one car in the WEC Hypercar class from the 2027 season in collaboration with Honda, though that report was subsequently revoked. As of May 2026 the team remained in discussions regarding a Hypercar programme, including talks with potential drivers.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
