Rapid Driving Rise Has Coincided with AO Racing’s Fan-Friendly Presence
By John Oreovicz
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Competitors in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship knew it was a matter of when – not if – PJ Hyett would break through for his first race win in professional prototype sports car racing. Perhaps more importantly, his teammates at AO Racing competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship believed it too.
So, when Hyett and Dane Cameron drove “Spike” (the team’s purple dragon-liveried No. 99 ORECA LMP2 07) to the class and overall victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 13, they understood it could the start of something big.
Hyett, a 41-year-old entrepreneur from greater Chicago best known for creating the GitHub software suite, has claimed the Motul Pole Award seven times in 11 attempts in LMP2 since the start of 2024. But he and Cameron didn’t cash in a win until pole number six, and even then, the victory at the track colloquially known as Mosport came under somewhat fortunate circumstances when the leader crashed late in the race.
Cameron and Hyett didn’t need things to go their way most recently at Road America, where they dominated the LMP2 race from start to finish – again from pole position. The second consecutive triumph lifted Hyett and Cameron to the top of the LMP2 standings, and Hyett now also holds a 107-point lead over Daniel Goldburg in the standings for the Jim Trueman Award, which awards an entry in the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans to IMSA’s top Bronze-rated LMP2 driver.
The team’s summer hot streak includes three consecutive poles and the two straight wins in IMSA LMP2 competition, plus an LMP2 Pro-Am class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a European Le Mans Series class win at Imola.
It all adds up to an impressive career arc for a guy who didn’t start racing professionally until 2022.
“PJ’s driving phenomenally well at the moment, which is making my life a lot easier, which I really appreciate,” said Cameron, the defending co-champion driver in IMSA’s Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class who joined AO Racing this year. “I’m proud of his work. To get the first win out of the way at CTMP was a really big deal.
“It was kind of weighing on the ‘Spike’ half of AO for sure to get a race win, and PJ wanted one incredibly bad for all his efforts here to get that first IMSA win,” Cameron continued. “We knew once that one was out of the way that everyone was going to relax a little bit and exhale, and it was going to kind of make life a little bit easier. I think everyone’s just a little more relaxed now that that they know they can do it.”
Qualifying Master
IMSA rules dictate that Bronze-rated drivers qualify in the LMP2 class, and pardon the pun, but Hyett is a quick study. His one-lap pace immediately caught the eye of AO Racing Team Principal Gunnar Jeannette at a private test day in Palm Beach in early 2022 where Hyett was pushing a priceless 1967 Porsche 911 R to the limit.
“That was the moment; standing on the pit wall watching him drive this car made me realize this guy really knows how to drive,” remarked Jeannette, a successful sports car racer himself who’s since moved into team management.
“He was planning a family trip to Le Mans, just as a spectator. It was pretty late, but I worked some connections and we were able to get him into the Porsche Sprint Challenge with a Belgian team who were a real good group of guys. His first practice there was in the wet. First time ever to Le Mans; he had driven it on a simulator, but never anything else. And in the wet, out of 70-something cars, he was in the top 15. He finished one of the races in the top 10. That says enough about his natural ability.”
AO Racing was formed in 2022, first fielding a Porsche 911 GT3 R in IMSA’s Grand Touring Daytona class in ‘23. The organization expanded to begin fielding LMP2 prototypes in the WeatherTech Championship and the European Le Mans Series in ‘24, later adding races in the Asian Le Mans Series, all with an eye toward getting relative racing novice Hyett much-needed seat time. Hyett immediately felt at home in the ORECA LMP2.
“In many ways, it’s an upgrade from the GT cars, and the cool things is I really enjoy driving the LMP2 cars,” he said. “That car is really fast and it’s fun to drive. 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.”
AO Racing was able to attract the widely experienced Cameron for 2025, fresh-off a championship winning GTP effort with Porsche Penske Motorsport.
“Driving with guys like Dane is just a huge boost in confidence to know what I’m capable of,” Hyett added. “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.”
Cameron, a four-time IMSA champion and 19-time race winner, has seen a lot of drivers and scenarios as one of IMSA’s most successful drivers. He’s been impressed by his new co-driver.
“Speed-wise he’s great,” he observed. “He’s easy to coach, he takes the feedback well. I didn’t know him well until the end of last year, but everyone who has been with the project says he’s lost a ton of weight and his fitness has improved. He’s very, very dedicated and competitive, which I like. He’s really invested in it from that sense in the same way a pro is. If he doesn’t feel he contributed to the end result and we can still win, he’ll be a little upset.”
Internal Pressure
Indeed, Hyett is his own toughest critic. He gets upset with himself if he makes a mistake on track or commits a procedural error that costs the team positions.
“He is probably the hardest and most critical person on himself or his own performance that I have ever worked with,” said Jeannette. “That in itself has been tough, but I think it’s also a lot of how he’s been able to bounce back from adversity. Number one, he has such a really strong desire to do well in all of this and be successful in it. And he has the ability to analyze what has gone on and make change.
“Had PJ started at an early age, he could absolutely be a full-on professional racecar driver,” Jeannette added. “I think all of us in the team are very grateful that he didn’t do that and instead built a very successful business and wanted to start his own race team. Sitting here now and seeing what we have been able to create in a short amount of time, I’m really glad PJ was so passionate about doing it. I think we’ve brought a lot to the paddock.”
You can’t miss the AO Racing cars in the IMSA paddock – “Rexy,” the green (or pink sister “Roxy”) No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R dinosaur livery shared by Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler in the GTD PRO class, and of course the purple No. 99 ORECA nicknamed “Spike, the LMP2 Dragon.”
Hyett is quick to give Jeannette the bulk of the credit for AO Racing’s creative marketing, but it’s clear that he’s a big contributor to the overall thought process. The whole concept was sparked by having cartoon characters painted on his helmet to amuse his children.
Cameron, who has driven for top-level factory supported teams throughout his career for Cadillac, Acura, and Porsche, sees AO Racing attracting a similar level of support from fans.
“It’s pretty neat to see what Gunnar and PJ have created – something as simple as a character – it’s been a huge thing to really get people excited,” Cameron said. “To be able to get people to get behind a car or a team or a brand is pretty special. The reaction it draws out of the kids to have something they can cheer for that’s different from the ordinary – the generic stripes and shapes and corporate colors and things don’t really mean much to people, do they? But if you give it a face or a brand or whatever, people suddenly latch onto it.”
Back to Work
With Road America located in close proximity to Chicago, Hyett naturally had a group of family and friends on hand to celebrate his most recent victory. He indulged in a low-key celebration, but he was already thinking about his next race – the six-hour TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, September 19-21 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
“For me, it’s all about continuing to execute at a higher level,” Hyett said. “I’m not going to go out and party and go crazy and anything like that. I want to go home, I want to see my family, and I want to continue to train and be the best driver I possibly can be.”