When looking down the entry list for this weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, with its GTP class filled with factory teams and GTD categories oozing star drivers, it could be easy to overlook the 12-car LMP2 class. But you shouldn’t. This year’s field is packed with quality drivers and world-class teams. And with the entire field racing on equal equipment, the racing promises to be as close as ever.
Picking a winner for the Rolex and the title, is near impossible, but there are a few teams that stand out. One of those is AO Racing, with its “Spike” liveried 07 and new-look driver line-up.
After team owner PJ Hyett completed the 2024 season with a rotating cast of characters that included Paul Loup Chatin, Matt Brabham, Alex Quinn and Louis Deletraz, the team has opted to bring a fresh line-up for the season ahead.
For the team’s sophomore campaign with the ORECA stateside, it’s almost all change. Hyett will be joined for the season by 2024 IMSA GTP champion Dane Cameron and by the team’s 2024 ELMS LMP2 champion Jonny Edgar for the longer races, with IndyCar full-timer Christian Rasmussen signed for the Rolex 24.
The addition of Cameron during the off-season is particularly notable. It’s a statement of intent that the team hopes will take its LMP2 team to the next level. The American — who departed the Porsche Penske Motorsport effort after Petit Le Mans on the highest of notes after helping the team sweep the GTP titles — is at the core of AO’s push to claim the LMP2 title for the first time.
“AO is definitely a team of ambition,” he tells RACER. “I saw an opportunity to jump into a group that has all the tools, all the potential in the world to do great things, and showed what they were capable of through GT last year. Now they have the same desire to replicate that in LMP2.
“I would love nothing more than to be the guy to help bring that along forward. It’s not just me, it’s it’s all the other work that they’ve done in the background. But you know, if I could be a small part of that then, hopefully all together, we can kind of lean forward to quite an exciting future.”
Crucially for AO, Cameron doesn’t see this as a temporary landing spot before rejoining a factory team in GTP. He has fully bought in and has a longer-term vision for what he hopes to achieve with the team in this new phase of his career.
“I see an opportunity here to be with PJ for a long time, and obviously, what they’re building,” he says. “Can it win? This is another guiding principle that I’ve always tried to abide by. I do believe this team could win.