Autumn Oaks Racing, doing business as AO Racing, is an American

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

team that currently competes in the

LMP2 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

and the GTD Pro classes of the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

and in

in the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. The team was founded in 2022 by P. J. Hyett and Gunnar Jeannette. The team won the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship in the GTD Pro class with driver Laurin Heinrich.

History

AO Racing was founded in 2022 by

GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...

co-founder and technology entrepreneur P. J. Hyett, and American race car driver Gunnar Jeannette. Hyett and Jeannette met through vintage racing and became friends. In September 2022, they made the decision to form an auto racing team to compete in the

. The name AO stands for Autumn Oaks, which is the name of Hyett's car collection that helped start the race team.

IMSA SportsCar Championship

2023

At the second round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship held at

Sebring International Raceway Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility in the Southeastern United States, southeastern United States, located near Sebring, Florida. Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously operating race tracks in the U.S ...

, the team debuted an all new

Tyrannosaurus Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

themed livery dubbed "Rexy" by driver and team co-founder Gunnar Jeannette. T. J. Harley is the livery designer. The livery was culminated by team co-founder P. J. Hyett after his two children inspired him to sport a T-Rex and a Unicorn on his race helmet. "Rexy" quickly became a fan favorite, and it has become one of the most recognizable sportscar liveries.

2024

The team announced that they would field a second car competing in the

class in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship. The announcement revealed that the

Oreca 07 The Oreca 07 is a Le Mans Prototype built by French manufacturer Oreca to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO LMP2 regulations. It made its official race debut in the opening round of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Dayt ...

would feature a purple and orange dragon themed livery dubbed "Spike". The team signed

Matthew Brabham Matthew Chase Brabham (born 25 February 1994) is an Australian- American racing driver. He competes in the Trans-Am Series, driving the No. 20 Ford Mustang for Chris Dyson Racing. From 2015 to 2021, he was a regular in the Stadium Super Trucks, w ...

and

Paul-Loup Chatin Paul-Loup Chatin (born 19 October 1991) is a French professional Auto racing, racing driver. He has had notable successes within the LMP2 class, winning the European Le Mans Series in 2014 and 2019, as well as pole positions at the 2018 24 Hours o ...

to partner P. J. Hyett for the full season in the

entry, with

Alex Quinn Alexander James Quinn (born 29 December 2000) is a British racing driver. He currently competes in the 2025 European Le Mans Series driving the No. 20 Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 car. Early career Karting Born in Truro and based near Camelford, Q ...

joining the team for the Michelin Endurance Cup. The GTD Pro entry would see Michael Christensen, Laurin Heinrich, and Sebastian Priaulx drive the team's

Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a range of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

for the full season. At the third round of the season at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

, the team scored their first win as an organization in the GTD Pro class with Heinrich and Priaulx behind the wheel of "Rexy." After two further wins at

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, the team became GTD Pro champions by four points at the last race at

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

2025

The team returned for the 2025 season once again competing in the

and GTD Pro classes. 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship GTD Pro champion Laurin Heinrich remained with the team to drive the No. 77

Porsche 911 GT3 R The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a range of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

. Joining him would be Klaus Bachler, who drove the No. 77

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (VIR) is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of the Dan River. VIR hosts ...

in 2024, and Belgian racer

Alessio Picariello Clemente Alessio Picariello (born 27 August 1993) is an Italian-born Belgian racing driver competing in the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship driving for AO Racing. He has won the ADAC Formel Masters in 2013, the Audi R8 LMS Cup in 2017, and is a ...

. For the No. 99 LMP2 entry, the team signed

Dane Cameron Dane Richard Cameron (born October 18, 1988) is an American racing driver from Glen Ellen, California. He won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship overall in 2016 and 2019, and also in the GTD class in 2014. Early career After karting, Ca ...

Jonny Edgar Jonny Edgar (born 13 February 2004) is a British people, British racing driver racing in the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship with TF Sport. He previously competed in the 2024 European Le Mans Series for AO Racing, AO by TF. Alongside his te ...

, and Christian Rasmussen to partner team owner P. J. Hyett.

European Le Mans Series

2024

On November 29, 2023, the team announced that they would field an

entry in the

2024 European Le Mans Series The 2024 European Le Mans Series was the twenty-first season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) European Le Mans Series. The six-event season began at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 14 April and concluded at Algarve International Circu ...

season in partnership with

TF Sport TF Sport is an auto racing team founded by Tom Ferrier and headquartered in Slinfold, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom. It competed in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship with a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, with support from Corv ...

. The team signed

Louis Delétraz Louis Charles Hubert Delétraz (born 22 April 1997) is a Swiss people, Swiss racing driver currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing and in the European Le Mans Series for AO Racin ...

, and former

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

driver

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. Kubica competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship ...

to drive the car full-time. Polish oil company

Orlen Orlen S.A. (formerly ), commonly known as Orlen, is a Polish multinational corporation, multinational oil refiner, petrol retailer and natural gas trader headquartered in Płock, Poland. The company's subsidiaries include the main oil and gas c ...

would sponsor the car for the full season and the team would compete as Orlen Team AO by TF. The team would go on to win the LMP2 championship ahead of the No. 43

Inter Europol Competition Inter Europol Competition is a Polish auto racing team that competes in Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing. The team contests the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship, IMSA SportsCar Champi ...

entry.

2025

The team returned to the European Le Mans Series for a second season in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, once again partnering with

. LMP2 class champion

remained with the team, with team owner P. J. Hyett entering the series for the first time. The team would be competing in the LMP2 Pro-Am category as Hyett is an FIA Bronze driver.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) * Season still in progress.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) * Season still in progress.

References

External links

* {{ELMS LMP2 Pro Am teams American auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans teams WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams FIA World Endurance Championship teams