Asked about rumors of a potential move for his team into the top tier of prototype endurance racing, AO Racing team principal Gunnar Jeannette acknowledged a move up to IMSA’s GTP category is being evaluated but it almost certainly will not happen in 2026.
“With the entries opening five days from now, the likelihood of us doing that in 2026 is… while I would not say zero, it is very small,” Jeanette said. “That being said, we are definitely putting a lot of effort into making sure that we make the right decision, with whatever the next step is for us.
“I mean, we’ve always wanted to do it. We’re having the talks. There’s no official timeline or manufacturer that has been picked.”
That AO Racing’s name has been frequently in the discussion of which team could be the next to make the leap to GTP is an endorsement of how strong it’s been since arriving on the scene in 2023, that it wouldn’t feel out of place if the team stepped up next year with a GTP program.
But for Jeanette and team owner PJ Hyett, the most important thing is to make sure AO Racing can make the step up without taking away from the championship-winning GTD PRO team, or LMP2 programs that have been successful on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Really, the number one thing that we need to make sure in this, is that we don’t put ourselves in position that we can’t pull it off,” Jeanette said. “We said before our very first race at Daytona in 2023, our number one goal was, don’t embarrass ourselves. And especially after the success that we’ve had across the various series and championships, that’s then even more important as we move to whatever’s next. To make sure that we can do it in a competitive manner and not spend ourselves into oblivion.
“We’re taking everything into consideration, and just making sure that we find the right partner. And partner is the key word. We don’t want to just be a ‘here’s your car, go run it’ customer, right? We want to have a valued partnership that we can build on and expand across our racing platform.
“We would definitely choose to continue doing ‘status quo’ on our programs, than go up to a class or category and be uncompetitive.”
