AO by TF: The Road to the LMP2 Pro/Am Title

In 2024 the team run by TF Sport secured the overall LMP2 crown with Louis Delétraz, Jonny Edgar and Robert Kubica securing the title with four podium finishes, including victory at the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

This season the team switched to the LMP2 Pro/Am category with Louis Delétraz being joined by AO Racing team owner PJ Hyett and his American teammate Dane Cameron.

2025 got off to a disappointing start for the American-Swiss driver crew. It started well when PJ Hyett qualified on the front row of the class grid, finishing the 15-minute session just two tenths behind the pole sitting no77 Proton Competition Oreca of Giorgio Roda.

In the race Hyett handed over the car to Cameron in a good position, with the American leading when he handed over to Deletraz. All was going well until the no99 Oreca-Gibson ground to a halt at T10. The reigning ELMS champion managed to get the car going at a slow pace back to the pits and after a brief trip into the garage, the car rejoined to take the chequered flag in a disappointing 8^thplace, six laps behind the no83 AF Corse, which took the overall victory in Spain.

The team were determined to bounce back at the next race at Le Castellet and PJ Hyett put the marker down with his first ELMS pole position, the American finishing 0.177s ahead of Giorgio Roda.

Chaos reigned at the start of the race as rain started to fall during the formation laps and with cars spinning off due to the tricky conditions all of the cars that elected to start on slick tyres had to come in to fit wets, jumbling up the order. The no27 Nielsen Racing of Tony Wells had started on wets and the British driver was making the most of his advantage.

After a pitstop for Goodyear wets, PJ Hyett was on the move, handing over to Dane Cameron. Cameron had a good stint before handing the car to Louis Delétraz to bring the car home.

Deletraz was moving through the field to take 2^nd place in class and third overall and trying to close the gap to the leading no27 Nielsen Racing Oreca of James Allen. However, Allen was able to maintain a five second lead until the chequered flag to secure Nielsen Racing’s first ELMS LMP2 Pro/Am victory.

After the team secured their class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, the next race on the ELMS calendar was the 4 Hours of Imola at the start of July.

Once again it was a battle between the no77 Proton Competition and the no99 AO by TF for the pole position, with Giorgio Roda securing a home pole for the Italian driver, a massive 2.9 seconds ahead of PJ Hyett, who secured the other front row position.

Giorgio Roda in the no77 Proton Competition was ahead of the no99 AO by TF of PJ Hyett but was passed by Hyett for second place during the latter half of their stint.Rain started to fall not long after the car was handed to Dane Cameron, with Cameron fighting off a determined challenge by Thomas Laurent in the no3 DKR Engineering for several laps.

After several interruptions in the later part of the race, including the no3 Oreca spinning off into the gravel, Louis Deletraz in the no99 AO by TF finished ahead of Bent Viscaal in the no77 Proton Competition, with Alex Quinn taking third place in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing.

At the halfway point of the season the AO by TF were leading the championship standings on 48 points, four ahead of Proton Competition on 44 points, with TDS Racing on 42 and Algarve Pro Racing on 41.

Round 4 was the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and Giorgio Roda got the best of PJ Hyett in qualifying, the Italian taking his third pole of the season 1.6 seconds ahead of Hyett, who would line up alongside his nemesis for Sunday’s race.

There was chaos at the first turn, with the no99 AO by TF of PJ Hyett tipped sideways by the no29 TDS Racing Rodrigo Sales, with Giorgio Roda in the pole sitting no77 Proton Competition blocked by the no99 Oreca. Sales was later given a penalty for causing the collision but in the meantime Hyett had managed to keep momentum and headed out in the lead of the class ahead of the no27 Nielsen Racing of John Falb and the no20 APR of Kriton Lentoudis.

However, the incident did cost Hyett a bit of a delay at the first pitstop when the team had to replace the damaged rear deck of the car before the American could rejoin.

Alex Quinn brought the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca home to win the LMP2 Pro/Am class in Belgium, ahead of the no21 United Autosports of Marino Sato, the Japanese driver moving up to second on the final lap when the no29 TDS Racing headed to the pitlane and into retirement, with Louis Delétraz taking the chequered flag in third.

The penultimate race of the 2025 season was the return to Silverstone for the first time since 2019.

The no99 AO by TF Oreca-Gibson took pole for the Goodyear 4 Hours of Silverstone with PJ Hyett’s lap of 1m45.318 just 0.017s faster than the no77 Proton Competition Oreca of Giorgio Roda, the Italian just narrowly missing his fourth pole of the year.

The race got underway with heavy rain in the forecast.At the start Pro/Am there was contact between the no3 DKR Engineering of Georgios Kolovos and no29 TDS Racing of Rodrigo Sales, with the no21 United Autosports Oreca of Daniel Schneider colliding with the spinning DKR Oreca. There was a further incident between the no99 AO by TF of PJ Hyett and the no37 CLX Pure Rxcing of Aliaksandr Malykhin, with both cars suffering body damage.

The no63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG was tagged by the passing no37 Oreca, the car speared across the grass, hitting the tyre wall hard and spreading debris across the track. The Australian climbed out of the badly damaged car unaided but with the barriers badly damaged the race was red flagged to allow repairs to be carried out.

Another high speed accident brought proceedings to a halt once again with a red flag, this time involving the no83 AF Corse of François Perrodo, the no77 Proton Competition of Giorgio Roda and the no15 RLR MSport Ligier of Nick Adcock resulted in Roda’s car hitting the barriers and spinning across the track, coming to rest on the racing line.

Once racing resumed Dane Cameron was now in the lead of the LMP2 Pro/Am category in the no99 AO by TF, with the no27 Nielsen Racing and no83 AF Corse close behind.

Rain began to fall with Louis Delétraz challenging Alex Quinns no20 APR Oreca and took the LMP2 Pro/Am lead into Brooklands as the last 30-minutes of the race approached. The no99 AO by TF was leading by two seconds but was issued a +5 second penalty for an earlier infringement, with Delétraz knowing he had to pull out the gap to Quinn to take the victory.

However, the Race Director decided the conditions were getting too dangerous to race and with 10-minutes left on the clock he declared another Red Flag to bring to race to an end. The no99 AO by TF Oreca was leading in LMP2 Pro/Am but the 5 second penalty dropped the American team to second place behind the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, with the no83 AF Corse Oreca in third.

Going into the final race Algarve Pro Racing were leading the championship on 91-points, 9-points ahead of AO by TF on 82, with AF Corse on 66-points in third.

Ahead of the final ELMS race in Portimão, PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron secured the LMP2 title with AO Racing at the final round of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.

Qualifying for the 4 Hours of Portimão followed a now familiar format with Proton Competition and AO by TF vying for pole. Giorgio Roda took his fourth pole position of the 2025 season in the no77 Proton Competition Oreca-Gibson with a final roll of the dice to snatch pole by 0.044s from PJ Hyett at the chequered flag.

At the start Alex Quinn in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing moved up from the back of the grid to take the lead of LMP2 Pro/Am. The British driver then headed to the pitlane to hand over to Kriton Lentoudis to get his Bronze driving time completed.

Lentoudis rejoined the track only to head back to the pits later in the race after been collected by a back marker, causing damage to the no20 APR. This dropped the championship leaders to the back of the LMP2 Pro/Am field, rejoining two laps behind and out of contention.

After the first stint by PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron was working his way back up the LMP2 Pro/Am field after his pitstop and was soon back in front as Mathias Beche took over the driving duties in the no29 TDS Racing.

In the final part of the race Mathias Beche was leading the LMP2 Pro/Am category, with the no99 AO by TF Oreca of Louis Delétraz keeping pace in a championship winning position. Delétraz didn’t challenge Bèche and took the chequered flag to claim the LMP2 Pro/Am title for AO by TF, with Mathias Bèche taking the first win of the season for TDS Racing. The no27 Nielsen Racing Oreca crossed the line to take the final podium position.

PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron and Louis Delétraz finished the season on 100-points for AO by TF, five ahead of the Algarve Pro Racing at the end of a dramatic season of racing.

It was a good day for TF Sport, with the LMP2 Pro/Am title added to the LMGT3 crown secured by Charlie Eastwood, Hiroshi Kaizumi and Rui Andrade.

It was the fourth ELMS title in five years for Louis Delétraz and the first for PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron, on top of the victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the IMSA title for the two Americans. The cherry on the cake was when PJ Hyett received the special award as Gentlemen Driver of the Year at the ELMS Awards Gala on Sunday evening in Portimão.

A very nice collection of trophies for the 2025 season.

CLICK HERE for the 2025 ELMS LMP2 Pro/Am Championship positions.