Rolex 24 at Daytona

Jonny Edgar and AO Racing show 2025 season potential with impressive Rolex 24 form.

Cumbria’s reigning European Le Mans Series champion, Jonny Edgar showed great potential and speed over the course of the Rolex 24 at Daytona with his AO Racing team, only to be denied a LMP2 class win due to an electrical issue.

As tradition dictates, the Rolex 24 started one week prior to the race with ‘The Roar Before the 24″ test, giving Jonny the perfect opportunity to get familiar with his new IMSA Endurance Cup team. The three days of testing, from Friday to Sunday, went smoothly and in both dry and wet conditions Jonny and the team experienced next to zero problems, their affectionately named “Spike The Dragon” Oreca was ready for the first round of the season.

Thursday marked qualifying day for the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Jonny’s teammate, PJ Hyett was set to qualify their LMP2 machine in third place before spinning off the track and getting stuck in the mud, bringing out the red flag. This meant the team would start the race from 6th in class and 18th overall. The team would complete a few more practice sessions, including one under darkness, but with no major issues they continued to hone Spike’s setup for the race.

In front of a packed grandstand, the 63rd Rolex 24 at Daytona got underway in perfect conditions and the race started in the best way possible as PJ took the team from 6th to 1st in class in a matter of laps. Despite having to remove some debris from the front brake ducts, PJ continued out front.

Jonny, the D.Tolson and Sons supported driver, would have to wait until after the first six hours for his first stint of the race, following PJ and Dane Cameron’s turns in the car. By this time, nightfall had descended over the Daytona International Circuit but the action didn’t cool off. Jonny cleverly avoided a collision following a full course yellow restart and went on to enjoy a solid first stint of the race, continuing to lead the class and keep out of trouble.

Jonny would return to the cockpit for a quadruple stint in the early hours of the morning, his longest stint in the car, and he was able to keep the famous dragon liveried Oreca in contention for the lead before handing the car over to Christian Rasmussen.

Motorsport UK Academy driver Jonny would complete one more stint in the closing stages of the race, and he continued to keep the team out of trouble and enjoy more time in the lead of their class. Once again, Jonny would hand the car over to Christian to finish the race.

However, with just under 90 minutes of the race to go, Christian was forced to pit due to a low battery warning. The mechanics worked hard to solve the problem and get their #99 LMP2 Oreca back into the race, but now the team had dropped out of the top 5 in class.

Christian finished the race for the team as planned, achieving 6th place in class and 13th overall.

Jonny: “Of course it’s such a shame that we lost our chance at winning the Rolex 24, the whole team did a great job in not just the race but the Roar and in practice and qualifying we found a good setup that suited all four of us and the car was really good to drive. I think there are a lot of positives we can take away from the weekend and if we can go to the next four rounds of the endurance cup with a car like we had in Daytona, I think we can get some really good results and hopefully fight for the LMP2 class title.”

Jonny and his teammates PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron and Christian Rasmussen and “Spike The Dragon” will be reunited at Sebring for another iconic endurance race, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on 12-15 March.