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With the addition of Tandy, AO Racing looks to keep its rapid rise roaring

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If you haven’t been to an IMSA race before, it’s hard to describe the impact AO Racing has on the fans.

It’s like if you go to the Italian Grand Prix and see how fanatical Ferrari’s adoring tifosi are. Only AO’s biggest support base comes from even more raucous children, owing to its dinosaur-themed liveries across Rexy (green GT), Roxy (pink GT) and Spike (purple LMP2).

Heading for an interview at Petit Le Mans last year I was late because the bridge over the main straight was blocked –simply because of congestion to get to AO’s autograph signing. Another time I walked past and there was what can only be described as a full-on dance musical going on in front of the garage with its inflatable mascots which have inspired children and parents America-over.

Even within the paddock, Nick Tandy – the team’s latest signing – will tell you his children preferred to support Rexy than his team on a race day last year, while Corvette’s Tommy Milner and Renger van der Zande of Acura reported similar stories.

Off-track, the most exciting news for this year is that the team has its own LEGO set which has just been released, there’s an amazing new gold livery on its LMP2 car, and its Halloween merch and toy cars will begin shipping the world over. That’s without considering the successes it continues to build on like its Hot Wheels and Mini GT models, plushy soft toys, and the list goes on.

Despite the mind-bending commercial success the team has achieved, though, the most interesting story is definitely in its GTD PRO driver line-up where Laurin Heinrich has moved to Porsche’s Hypercar program after two years, and Tandy has gone the other way.

After adding to his legend in Porsche prototypes, Nick Tandy is looking forward to a career reset in GTD PRO with AO. James Gilbert/Getty Images

Tandy won at Daytona and Sebring last year to be the first driver to win those, Le Mans, Spa, Nurburgring and Petit Le Mans overall in the same career. Even if you don’t believe he is the best endurance driver ever – and yes, that’s a tough conversation with so many options – he’ll almost certainly never be beaten for the uniqueness of his resume.

So why, after all of that success, did he take what many would call a step back to race GTs?

“I’m excited – I’m re-invigorated,” says Tandy. “Honestly, I love driving prototypes, I love the racing, I love GTP. But it was time for me to do something else outside of PPM.

“So, the back end of last year, when it became obvious that Porsche would have drivers going around and people to fill in within the team, I spoke to Porsche – I requested to do something else because my time at PPM had run its course, and I was ready to do something different. I’m still contracted to Porsche, and it’s not like they only do GTP stuff. So when they suggested to go and race in GTD PRO and with a team like AO, it kind of just ticked all the boxes.

“It was a nice way to go into the winter break and look ahead to hopefully trying to enjoy racing again.”

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Porsche’s reshuffle after ending its FIA World Endurance Championship program triggered musical chairs in its team and there were plenty of teams interested in Tandy – Alpine was reportedly top of that list – but in the end, Tandy sees out the last year of his current Porsche contract with AO.

“I’ve got a lot of friends within the team, people that I used to race with within the GTLM team Porsche used to run, and other people that I know,” he notes. “So I’ve kept a keen eye on what’s been going on the last two, three years. Along with Corvette Racing, they are the most popular team by far in the entire paddock.

“So, yeah, there’s weight of pressure on that because of that. But, everybody likes to have fans of what they’re doing and fans of the car they’re driving. And my children cheered on Rexy, probably more than they did my car! When they found out I’ll be driving Rexy…yeah, there’s a lot of exciting stuff.”

Tandy will join Alessio Picariello – who has raced for the team previously – and Harry King, who is new to the team, as they try to rebound from its fifth-place finish last year in defense of the 2024 title. Those who see GTD PRO as a step down are perhaps unaware of the level of manufacturers and compet ition in the series. A step down in prestige, maybe, but certainly not in the resource or talent required to succeed in it.

Tandy hasn’t competed in the GTD PRO/GTD format, and he has no doubts how big the challenge will be this year even if he and the team are as confident as you can be entering an IMSA season.

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“Nobody was really sure how it was going to turn out, but it has turned into the new spec GTLM, honestly,” says Tandy. “You’ve got factory teams, you’ve got factory drivers. I look at it as the new, premier GT category in the world from a professional point of view. You see that with the amount of teams that come over, even if it’s not for the full season, then the Endurance Cup, or just for Daytona.”

The other big question surrounding Tandy, especially now he races in GTs again, is whether he will race at Le Mans. He’s open to the idea, but also wouldn’t be mad at a break from running IMSA and Le Mans which means no days off for well over a month in the middle of the year…

“It isn’t like I feel my season wouldn’t be complete if I don’t go to Le Mans,” he says. “I enjoyed last year. If I don’t go (this year), then I’ll look forward to going in 2027. So, yeah, we’ll just see what happens and I look forward to the future.”

A recent outing in the Mini Challenge in the UK has whetted his appetite for more varied action, too.

“It really sent me back to realizing where the enjoyment of racing came from, and how it can be enjoyable. It’s not just a job,” Tandy says. “I’m actively working on stuff in the UK. It could be something really quite exciting, but there’s no kind of concrete news to talk about the moment.

“At this stage, the full focus is obviously on the IMSA season, but there’s lots of stuff going on in the background. I’ve got my contract with Porsche for this year. But we all know what’s going on and how sports car racing globally is expanding, I think. Looking ahead to the future, it’s all open and looks very exciting.”

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On the LMP2 side, AO won the titles in IMSA and the Pro-Am title in ELMS last year with Dane Cameron and team owner P.J. Hyett, so on that side, it’s a request for more of the same from team boss Gunner Jeanette, with help from Jonny Edgar in IMSA and Louis Deletraz in ELMS.

“LMP2 completely held up the team [competitively] really, on both fronts in IMSA and in ELMS,” says Jeannette. “In some ways, that’s more satisfying because it’s P.J. getting his first championships as a driver as well, not just the team entity.

“So that was, I hesitate to say, even more important for us because, you always want your founder and team owner to have that success.”

In LMP2, team co-founder PJ Hyett became a driver champion for the first time last year. Brandon Badraoui/Lumen via Getty Images

Hyett’s been incredibly impressive in his journey as an Am driver, always a formidable threat in the class. I don’t think there’s any secret that this team has aspirations on track as big as its reach off it, and a top-level prototype program will be the long-term goal being driven towards behind the scenes. But in the meantime, Jeanette is obviously delighted with having Tandy in the fold as part of AO’s push to regain the GTD PRO title.

“Fifth in the championship, when it was all said and done, was really, really disappointing there,” Jeannette admits.

There was also another massive step made in 2025 as the team took its merchandising, production and customer fulfillment in house. That’s made it more nimble, like around Daytona, where after it was shunted out of a podium position, the team gave Rexy braces to straighten the teeth that had metaphorically been knocked out.

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“I think across the board, 2025 has been an absolute banner year for us,” Jeanette says. “The Daytona finish wasn’t great. We got taken out of podium contention, but then to rebound at Sebring and create the whole braces story, and then interact with kids and fans that themselves have braces and do that kind of stuff. It’s those kinds of moments that you can’t even really plan for ahead of time. The Halloween livery stuff was definitely a big hit. We’re looking forward to continuing to do stuff like that in ’26 and beyond.”

On track, the predictions are a bit more realistic, and Tandy’s addition at worst softens the blow of Heinrich’s departure, and at best gives the team arguably the driver with the best endurance racing resume on the planet. And as successful as its commercial quests have been, the team has won titles in IMSA in the last two years, and that’s no mean feat.