Livery design is extremely subjective, but that won’t stop us from offering an opinion on some of 2024’s offerings in sportscar racing that we feel works the best.
There were a number of standouts.
In the FIA WEC, the reverse factory colour scheme for the #83 AF Corse 499P really worked, as did the first iteration of Proton’s FATurbo-liveried 963 and the UFO throwback BMW M4 LMGT3 from WRT at Le Mans.
HERTZ Team JOTA, which was also an honourable mention last year, doubled up in 2024. The still very fresh-looking livery is clearly still a standout but the team from Tunbridge Wells has earned quite enough silverware this year by DSC’s reckoning. We are eagerly anticipating a first look at how it translates to the Cadillac V-Series.R in 2025!
The European Le Mans Series as a whole was underwhelming in this department, but there was a pair of head-turners in LMGT3, with the bright pink and navy GRID Motorsport by TF Aston Martin and striking-looking black and orange GR Racing Ferrari.
Elsewhere on the support package Cindy Gudet’s Ligier JS 2R, with its shark teeth grill, enhanced the handsome lines of the car.
Across the pond in IMSA, this year’s WeatherTech field was pretty strong. In LMP2 United Autosports’ take on the Wynns livery really popped, and Sean Creech Motorsports’ stars and stripes Ligier will be missed next season.
Whilst a number of the big factory teams produced derivative liveries that lacked punch, particularly when photographed, the scheme produced by the Multimatic Ford team added some sparkle to what was a disappointing GTD Pro season for the ‘Blue Oval’.
A late addition to this list comes a pair of new additions to the LMP2 class of the Asian Le Mans Series, which showed that a different colour – the #50 AF Corse ORECA – and a well-designed derivative of an existing scheme – #91 Pure Rxcing – can work.
Also running in the Asian Le Mans Series was the GT World Challenge Asia-winning Origine Porsche, which proved that much can be achieved with simple colour selection and laser-focused attention to detail.
GT World Challenge Europe meanwhile, featured a number of nice designs such as the factory-liveried AF Corse Ferraris.
And the IGTC field at the Nürburgring 24 Hours included a very handsome Shell livery from Team RMG.
But there can only be one winner, and surprisingly, this is not a new-for-2024 colour scheme.
Instead, it’s one which has seen its popularity go global through marketing, merchandising and in the case of getting the edge on this award, with one genius tweak.
Dailysportscar’s 2024 Livery of the Year
‘Rexy’!
‘Rexy’, AO Racing’s GTD Pro title-winning car in IMSA, with its added gold teeth for each race win (three), has become one of the most sought-after Hot Wheels releases for many a year. (The very limited edition Roxy variant is commanding a massive premium!)
A cute idea for the very best of reasons, has become a phenomenon in the paddock and a force to be reckoned with on track. Massive congratulations to all involved at AO Racing.
Notable by its absence here is the brother car, ‘Spike’ the LMP2 dragon. Again, we love the sentiment, but somehow, our view, is that the execution fell just a little short.
For us, it’s ‘Rexy’ that deserves this award for a second year running. RAWR!
