While AO Racing ran a special Preston Henn’s Swap Shop livery at the 24 Hours of Daytona back in January, commemorating the Swap Shop 935 winning the race outright in 1983, the team have retired that livery for the full season, and are instead going to be racing with a wonderfully comical T-Rex livery. The car has henceforth been dubbed “Rexy” and the team refer to its 911-based race car as a “GT3 Rawr” which is just stellar work. The idea for the livery comes from team principal and driver of the #80 car, PJ Hyett. His helmet is adorned with a unicorn for his daughter and a t-rex for his son. The t-rex was determined to be a better fit for the car, and now this 911 has a massive toothy smile across the front as a result.
“With a grill full of sharp teeth, Rexy the GT3 Rawr looks fierce, hungry to take down the competition of the 54-car field that will compete at next week’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Despite her short arms, her strong legs will carry the strength to race up front, fighting for a result improved from January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona,” says the team in a press release.
The team had an abysmal result at the Rolex 24 in January, from a spin on the sighting lap to finishing some 19 laps back from the GTD class winning Aston Martin. The 911 GT3 R balance of performance was pretty well out of whack for its inaugural race, and we remain hopeful that IMSA will have that rectified for the 12 Hours of Sebring this weekend. Hyett will again be joined by full-season co-driver Sebastian Priaulx, and team co-founder Gunnar Jeannette stepping in as third driver for the endurance rounds. AO will be one of twenty cars in the GTD class on Saturday, hoping for a victory. The team will also be pairing with Project 1 Racing to run the 1000 Miles of Sebring race on Friday as well.
The 12 Hours of Sebring will begin on Saturday, March 18 at 10:10 AM ET, airing live from start to finish on Peacock, and with the last six hours beginning at 4:30 PM on the USA Network.