The Porsche icons prepare to face off in Rolex 24

Some producers dream of getting only one icon. Porsche has two – and they’re set to conflict on the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the primary time. Within the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s Endurance Cup, an inner rivalry at Porsche between these two widespread race groups is about to unfold.

In a single nook: Rexy, the lovable dinosaur. It is a character that has taken the followers’ hearts by storm.

The hassle is led by two hardcore racers: Gunnar Jeannette, long-time sports activities automobile pilot and passionate base jumper, and IT entrepreneur and self-made billionaire P.J. Hyett, founding father of AO Racing, creator of Rexy, who remains to be actively racing.

The Dinosaur-branded Porsche has develop into a legend in a really brief time, even outdoors the USA. AO Racing sells huge quantities of merchandise in relation to the automobile.

Dino mascots are an enormous hit with followers of all ages, and there’s nobody who hasn’t by some means taken this Porsche into their coronary heart. However endearing design apart, Rexy has already achieved quite a bit in her comparatively brief life – 2026 marks the automobile’s fourth yr on the grid.

She secured a GTD Professional title in her first yr within the class following a studying yr in GTD. In 2025, AO Racing additionally took the LMP2 Professional-Am class victory on the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the IMSA LMP2 title with Rexy’s sister prototype known as Spike.

A brand new challenger approaches

#911 Manthey Porsche 911: Thomas Preining, Klaus Bachler, Ayhancan Guven, Ricardo Feller

Photograph by: Jake Galstad / Lumen by way of Getty Pictures

 On the opposite facet of this battle: Grello. It is a image of German precision, accuracy, and professionalism. Cast over a long time on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. A seven-time winner of the 24 Hours on the Nürburgring. Reigning DTM champion. Winner of the 12 Hours of Bathurst in 2024.

Grello is the epitome of success throughout the Porsche household and feared by all its opponents. Even within the USA, the legendary Inexperienced and Yellow is already a recognized entity.

 And people who do not know Grello but quickly will, as anybody competing towards Grello is aware of they must carry their A-game.

Now, each of those Porsche squads go towards one another for the very first time in GTD Professional. Two automobiles with utterly completely different characters, completely different groups, and completely different approaches, however each purely pushed by success.

“Sure, it’s merely incredible,” Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach informed Motorsport.com. “Manthey made the choice to develop into lively right here within the USA as properly, which we had been actually blissful about.”

Manthey additionally goals to extend consciousness of its efficiency kits for Porsche highway fashions within the profitable American market.

Laudenbach doesn’t even try to deny {that a} wholesome rivalry will develop between the 2 groups: “Clearly, that’s pure. We’re speaking about buyer racing; everybody has to safe their very own funding and fights for their very own success. And each of groups have the ambition to win championships. If there have been no rivalry, I’d be questioning what was occurring.”

A battle larger than Porsche vs. Porsche

#911 Manthey Porsche 911: Thomas Preining, Klaus Bachler, Ayhancan Guven, Ricardo Feller

Photograph by: Brandon Badraoui

However then there’s driver Nick Tandy, who mentioned: “Let’s not concentrate on the duel.”

Nonetheless, there may be additionally knowledgeable cooperation occurring. Nick Tandy, who has already celebrated nice success in Grello and now goals to guide Rexy to victory for the primary time, sends a warning to not focus solely on the opposite Porsche.

“We’re preventing towards the very best GT groups on the planet right here. We are able to’t simply break it right down to Rexy vs. Grello”, the Endurance “huge six” winner informed Motorsport.com.

Each groups work intently collectively below the umbrella of Porsche Motorsport North America. “After all, there might be competitors [between the teams], however we ensure that it all the time occurs in a great spirit,” Laudenbach emphasised.

Reigning DTM champion Ayhancan Guven is firmly related to Grello however obtained his first impression of Rexy through the grid photograph. “After they took the images on the movie day, I used to be driving Grello and Rexy was proper subsequent to me. That’s fairly distinctive”, the Turk informed Motorsport.com.

“I’ve been racing in Grello for some time, however with Rexy, the fanbase of that automobile, and their successes, it’s a reasonably distinctive mixture. As a model, we at Porsche might be actually blissful to have these two icons. And now, we’re competing towards one another.”

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– The Motorsport.com Crew