Hyett, AO Racing Not Just in It for Fun

By Dennis Krause

As the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship winds down with its penultimate round at this weekend’s six-hour TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, AO Racing’s Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) title quest is in good shape with PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron in the No. 99 ORECA LMP2 07. The duo is 107 points clear of Daniel Goldburg in the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA.

Hyett and Cameron have been on a roll since June, reaching the top step of the podium in the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Then, the No. 99 ORECA LMP2-07 took its first IMSA win of the season at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and gained the LMP2 class championship lead with a dominant victory at the recent Motul Sports Car Grand Prix at Elkhart Lake’s Road America.

For Hyett, a bronze-rated driver, just getting more miles under his belt has benefited the team greatly.

“I think just having the seat time,” said Hyett. “I obviously haven't been doing this for very long, so more driving these ORECAS, is more helpful from getting to know the car better, getting to know the tire better, getting to know what the car is capable of. Driving with guys like Dane is just a huge boost in confidence, to know what I'm capable of.

“And there's all these little things you learn that you just have to do, and you can't simulate your way through it. You have to be in the car, you have to be racing, you have to be wheel to wheel, and so just having the seat time between both [IMSA and European Le Mans Series] championships for us has been a humongous help for me, just to try to go from basically zero experience three years ago to where I am today is you just have to drive a lot.

“Fortunately, I have the ability to do that so and then, the same engineering staff, same co-driver, like everything is, so we're really firing on all cylinders right now, just the synergy between both of Europe and the IMSA program, like I'm so happy with the teams that we're working with and the teammates that we have. It's this. There's been so much behind the scenes to become this sort of overnight back to back success that there been a lot going on in the background.”

Founded in 2022 by Hyett and Gunnar Jeannette, AO Racing has swiftly become one of the top teams in both the LMP2 and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) PRO classes. While the team is a serious, professional operation, it also aims to bring the fun back into motorsport. Most notable are its iconic liveries of “Rexy” and “Roxy,” the T-Rex Porsche 911 GT3 Rawrs and “Spike” the LMP2 Dragon that have captivated fans young and old and earned AO Racing a dedicated following.

For Hyett, it’s been important to back up the team’s personality with success on the race track.

“Yeah, so in ’23 when I was racing “Rexy” in the 911, it was sort of this bittersweet thing, because we had started to gain all of this momentum and following, just because we were doing something new. Everyone was so excited about this character, “Rexy”, running around the racetrack and to not perform on the track.

“You know, I always joke that we had sort of a outsized amount of air time for how poorly we were doing on the racetrack,” Hyett added, “just because it was so much fun to see this dinosaur running on the racetrack. The fact that we can get that air time, not just because of their fun characters, but also because we're executing and winning these races, is ultimately what I wanted to accomplish in this series.

“And so from that perspective, being able to bring home last year, the “Rexy” crew, bringing home the championship (in GTD PRO), I mean, it's just like an absolute dream come true. And so for us, I'd love to do it again this year with both cars and to demonstrate it's not just for fun. We're here to win, and we can do both. And so that's really what AO is all about.”

In Friday’s lone practice session at Indy, Hyett, Cameron, third-driver Jonny Edgar and “Spike” were tenth fastest in class with a time of 1-minute, 18.011-seconds on Indy’s 2.439-mile road course.

A second 90-minute practice session is schedule for Saturday morning beginning at 8:55 (ET) with qualifying at 3:15 PM (ET).

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.

Hyett, AO Racing Not Just in It for Fun

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