Rexy and a former single-seater of Sébastien Bourdais, PJ Hyett's weekend at 100 miles an hour

The Le Mans driver had obtained his fourth consecutive Champ Car title at the wheel of the Newman Panoz DP01/Haas Racing, before joining the Formula 1. Usually, in IMSA, Hyett divides his time between his role as stable boss, who presides over the destiny of Rexy, the Porsche 911 GT3 R entered in GTD Pro, and his role as driver of Spike the Dragon, the LM P2 entered by AO by TF. At Long Beach, however, neither was scheduled to start, as the Californian round was reserved for machines in the GTP and GTD categories.

No matter, Rexy finds himself exceptionally entered in the other category reserved for GT3s! The opportunity to celebrate in style the 50th anniversary of the Long Beach Grand Prix. And the American has found an excellent substitute for driving his LM P2 since he will slip into the cockpit of the car by Sébastien Bourdais. A historic Grand Prix is ​​in fact organized alongside the IMSA andIndyCar, to allow us to revisit some of the single-seaters that made the Long Beach Grand Prix famous. Owner of the Newman/Haas Racing machine, Hyett could not miss this event.

“The story began when Newman/Haas auctioned off a number of their vintage Champ Car and IndyCar cars.”, Hyett told RACER. “I honestly couldn't believe the history associated with all these amazing vehicles and the opportunity to bring home the 2007 championship winner that has such a great story, one of the best IndyCar chassis ever built.”

On this last part, Hyett, who only completed one afternoon of testing at the wheel of the monster equipped with a V8 Turbo Cosworth, can trust a few drivers in the current field. Will Power or Graham Rahal, to name but two, participated in the 2007 season, the only one that the Panoz DP01 saw in competition before the absorption of Champ Car by IndyCar a few weeks before the start of the 2008 season. Only one round remained on the calendar that year for the Champ Car single-seaters, and that was the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

“A lot of drivers have told me how awesome this Panoz is, and I’ve only had the opportunity to drive it once, but I couldn’t be more excited to drive it again in Long Beach, to experience the thrill of driving it again. This livery, as a Chicago native—McDonald’s is headquartered in Chicago—it kind of feels like hometown. And then, of course, since Newman/Haas was also based on the North Shore of Chicago, there are a lot of fun connections for me that are tied to this car.”

With Sébastien Bourdais having achieved pole position and victory in 2007 on the streets of Long Beach, there is no doubt that PJ Hyett will be keen to honour that winning pedigree this weekend!

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