Skeleton Rexy glows in the dark as AO Racing lights up Petit Le Mans
AO Racing is getting a head start on Halloween at the IMSA season finale
AO Racing is closing out the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship the only way it knows how, with two of its cartoon characters painted across the cars for this weekend's Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The fan-favourite Skeleton Rexy returns on the No. 77 Porsche, and Rockie the Pegasus makes her North American debut on the No. 99 Oreca. The 10-hour finale runs from 1 to 3 October.
Belgian driver Alessio Picariello shares the Skeleton Rexy Porsche, and AO's character cars have quietly become one of the biggest fan draws in sportscar racing.
Skeleton Rexy lights up in the dark
Skeleton Rexy returns for a second straight year on the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R in GTD Pro, shared by Nick Tandy, Harry King and Picariello. It is the Halloween version of AO's dinosaur mascot, first seen at Petit Le Mans last year, and this time it has a genuinely clever upgrade. The bones on the doors and Rexy's mouth now glow, lighting up as the ten-hour race runs on into the Georgia night. It is a gimmick, but a well-judged one for a race that finishes long after dark.
Rockie the Pegasus joins the party
The No. 99 Oreca 07 Gibson in LMP2, run by Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett and Jonny Edgar, swaps the team's usual Spike design for Rockie the Pegasus. The Mobil 1-branded character first appeared at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 Pro-Am class, and Road Atlanta marks her first outing in North America. AO now has a small stable of these characters, and rotating them keeps the fan interest fresh from one race to the next.
There are titles on the line, not just paint
The 29th running of Petit Le Mans is the final round of the 2026 season, so this is not purely a dressing-up exercise. The No. 99 is defending AO's LMP2 Teams' title, and Cameron and Hyett are trying to hold on to their Drivers' crowns. The numbers are unforgiving, though, with AO sitting 108 points down in LMP2 and 154 behind in GTD Pro. That is a lot to pull back in one race, even a long one, and it puts a fitting amount of pressure behind all the fun. Eye-catching liveries are becoming a real part of IMSA's appeal, but AO has taken the idea furthest.
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AO Racing understands something most teams still do not, that a car people fall in love with is worth as much as a quick one. The glowing Skeleton Rexy is the sort of detail that ends up on every phone in the grandstands, and launching Rockie in the United States keeps the story moving rather than repeating. Fresh from its Suzuka 1000km win, the team clearly knows how to turn a paint scheme into a following.
With a 108-point gap in LMP2 and a bigger one in GTD Pro, the titles are a long shot, so the liveries may well be AO's headline this weekend. On current form, that is a trade the team is perfectly happy to make.
