AO Enters Suzuka 1000km With ‘Bushi Rex’ Porsche

Photo: AO by Absolute

AO Racing will make its Intercontinental GT Challenge competition debut with a Pro class Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo entry for next month’s Suzuka 1000km.

The Chicago-area based team will join forces with top Chinese outfit Absolute Racing to field a Porsche for Laurin Heinrich, Alessio Picariello and Julien Andlauer, while debuting a new AO character in the form of ‘Bushi Rex’.

It comes as Porsche leads the IGTC manufacturers’ championship following Lionspeed GP’s victory in last month’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

AO team principal Gunnar Jeannette commented: “AO is excited to partner with Absolute Racing and Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific for the 2026 Suzuka 1000km.

“With a stellar driver line-up and an amazing new character, we are very much looking forward to putting on a show for our Japanese fans.

“This will be our first foray into Intercontinental GT Challenge, and we believe we have all the pieces in place to fight at the front.”

Absolute Racing director Fabien Fior added: “We’re delighted to partner with AO Racing for Bushi Rex’s first adventure. It makes the occasion even more special to do so alongside Porsche at such an iconic event as the Suzuka 1000km.

“We’re confident Bushi Rex will capture the imagination of fans across Asia. Alessio is already part of the Absolute Racing family, while Laurin and Julien are two exceptionally talented drivers. We have every confidence in the trio’s ability to deliver a strong result.”

AO’s Suzuka 1000km effort will mark its first race appearance in Japan since 2023, when Jeannette, PJ Hyett and Matteo Cairoli finished fifth in the GTE-Am class of the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Fuji in a Team Project 1-run Porsche 911 RSR-19 in ‘Rexy’ colors.

The first hint of a possible IGTC program came last month when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship squad was spotted testing at Road America on Pirelli tires.

For Heinrich, it marks a reunion with the team that he helped take to the 2024 IMSA GTD Pro title, having not driven for the Jeannette-led squad since last year’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.

Picariello, meanwhile, has regularly served as AO’s third driver for the WeatherTech Championship enduros.

Porsche Penske Motorsport driver Andlauer has two previous start with AO, coming at Road America and Petit Le Mans in 2024.

‘Bushi Rex’ becomes the fifth different AO character, joining ‘Rexy’, ‘Roxy’, ‘Spike’ and ‘Rockie’, the latter which debuted on the team’s LMP2 car at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of a tie-in with Mobil 1.

The word ‘bushi’, meaning ‘samurai’, is written in kanji script (武士) on the car’s windshield, while the back side of the rear wing also features a nod to the ‘GT3 Rawr’ nickname, with a dinosaur’s roar rendered in katakana script (ガオー) after ‘GT3’.

The AO/Absolute entry is expected to be one as many as ten Porsches on the grid for the penultimate round of the IGTC season on Sept. 11-13.

Photo: AO by Absolute

Photo: AO by Absolute

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John