At the end of 2006, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest introduced new regulations that rendered many existing Le Mans Prototype chassis ineligible for competition. Pescarolo Sport had long campaigned Courage C60-derived cars under the Pescarolo C60 name, extensively modifying them over the years, but those cars could not comply with the new layout requirements. Team owner Henri Pescarolo chose to become a full constructor rather than purchase a new chassis from another builder. The 01 carried forward many engineering concepts from the C60 but was a clean-sheet design intended not only for the works team but also for customer sale.
The decision to make the 01 available to paying customers distinguished it from many constructor efforts of the era. Both LMP1 and LMP2 variants shared the same fundamental structure, with the class distinction requiring only minor configuration changes, making it commercially attractive to a broader customer base.
The 01 made its competitive debut at the 2007 1000 km of Monza, the opening round of the Le Mans Series. The Pescarolo Sport entry finished second overall, sandwiched between the factory Peugeot diesels, announcing the car's competitiveness immediately. British team Rollcentre Racing had signed up as the first LMP1 customer, while German squad Kruse Motorsports took an LMP2 specification car with the smaller Judd V8.
At the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans, all four entered 01s ran strongly. The Pescarolo Sport entry driven by Emmanuel Collard, Jean-Christophe Boullion, and Romain Dumas finished third overall, eleven laps behind the winning Audi R10 TDI. Rollcentre Racing completed the race a further eleven laps back in fourth place. The result was notable for being one of the best showings by a petrol-powered car against the dominant diesel prototypes of the era.
Through the rest of the 2007 Le Mans Series, the works 01 continued to challenge the Peugeot 908s for the runner-up position, finishing second at the 1000 km of Spa behind the surviving Peugeot and second again at Silverstone. The season concluded with Pescarolo Sport securing second place in the LMP1 Teams Championship, and Rollcentre Racing outperforming the second works car to finish fourth.
Kruse Motorsports' season ended prematurely when a fire on board the team's transporter destroyed their car entirely.
The 2008 campaign saw five Pescarolo 01s entered in the Le Mans Series. Pescarolo Sport ran both the 01 and its new 07 chassis, while Rollcentre Racing continued with the 01. French team Saulnier Racing, now owned by Jacques Nicolet, entered a pair of 01s in both LMP1 and LMP2 specifications. The LMP1 field had grown more competitive with both Peugeot and Audi fielding factory diesel runners.
At Le Mans, the Pescarolo 01 fleet again ran en masse. The works number 17 car led the petrol runners home in seventh place overall, the best result for a gasoline-powered prototype in the 2008 race. Rollcentre finished eleventh. In LMP2, the Saulnier entry completed the race third in class and eighteenth overall.
In 2009 Pescarolo Sport and OAK Racing — the renamed Saulnier Racing — continued with evolved Evo variants of the 01. Pescarolo Sport finished second in the LMP1 Teams Championship with their number 16 car, while OAK Racing ran LMP2 cars powered by Mazda France engines.
Financial difficulties brought Pescarolo Sport to bankruptcy in July 2010, but Jacques Nicolet and Prestige Racing's Joel Riviere purchased the company's assets during the subsequent sale and returned them to Henri Pescarolo, enabling a revival under the Pescarolo Team name in 2011. That return produced an immediate highlight when the works car won outright at the 6 Hours of Castellet, with Emmanuel Collard, Christophe Tinseau and Julien Jousse driving.
OAK Racing separated its manufacturing activities into an independent company, Onroak Automotive, which continued developing modified versions of the 01 under the Morgan LMP2 name in partnership with Morgan Motor Company. The Morgan LMP2, fitted with a Nissan engine, went on to win the LMP2 class at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans and claimed both the Asian Le Mans Series and FIA World Endurance Championship LMP2 titles that year — a direct lineage from the original Pescarolo 01 architecture.
The Pescarolo 01 was finally retired from competition by OAK Racing at the start of the 2013 season, having served as the foundation for a family of privateer sports prototypes that competed at the highest level of endurance racing for six seasons.