DETROIT, Mich., (June 3, 2024) – Just weeks after the team’s first win in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, AO Racing celebrated their second consecutive win at the Detroit Sports Car Classic. The class victory extends their points lead in the GTD PRO class. Rexy, the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 Rawr had a nail-biting race with drivers Sebastian Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich, persevering through contact to win on Corvette and Ford’s home turf.
”All of us at AO Racing are thrilled for our second IMSA victory with Rexy,” said AO Motorsports Director Gunnar Jeannette. “It was one of the most nerve-wracking finishes I’ve ever been a part of, in dealing with the car damage after contact. Our goals for this weekend were to have a clean race and come away with a top-five result, so to leave with our second victory and increased lead in points is fantastic.”
The tight, 1.654-mile, 9-turn temporary street course on Detroit’s waterfront set the scene for an exciting event. The 100-minute round was the first time the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entrants competed in the race. With three practice sessions to learn the tight circuit, Priaulx qualified fourth in class. He performed flawlessly to open the race, closing out his stint in third place, behind the No. 4 Corvette and the No. 14 Lexus. After a perfect pit stop by the crew in pit lane, Heinrich took over the driving duties, in what was a caution-filled stint. He and Rexy narrowly survived an incident between the No. 4 and No. 14 cars, resulting in heavy damage to the front splitter as the green dinosaur-liveried Porsche navigated around the two cars to take the lead. Heinrich drove it to the finish line, parking Rexy in victory circle, once again the top finisher in the GTD PRO class.
The win continues the momentum for AO Racing, who will compete in their next IMSA WeatherTech event at Watkins Glen International’s Six Hours of The Glen, June 21 to June 23. Before then, the team’s LMP2 program travels to Le Mans, France, for the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, on Saturday, June 15. Testing begins this week before official practice sessions take place next week. The team will join forces with TF Sport to enter the event with Spike, AO’s purple and orange dragon. For more information, visit aoracing.com.
Driver Quotes
Sebastian Priaulx
What a great day. I kept the car clean on the start for Laurin and he was able to go and execute the result there for us. I’m really proud of the team. Everyone did a great job. It was a bit of luck, but we made our own today. I’m happy to have a car that was able to finish with the damage we had. I’m proud of Laurin and the team.
Laurin Heinrich
I’m really happy to get our second win in a row, back-to-back, in Detroit. It was not an easy race. Seb had a great qualifying and a good opening race stint to put us in that place, and then in the end, a great pit stop and strong out lap kept us going. We got a bit tight in the hairpin. I had nowhere to go and had contact with the Corvette, and from there, I had to nurse the car home with a lot of damage. I had to adapt my driving style a bit because the car didn’t want to go straight. I’m really happy to bring it home.
