Two years ago, AO Racings Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) made major waves at the 12 Hours of Sebring with the reveal of its now famed Rexy livery.

Then last season, the team made significant strides as it won the title in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO category on the strength of three victories.

However, none of those wins came in the series premier events Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring or Petit Le Mans.

With anchor driver Lauren Heinrich behind the wheel again this season, the goal after a title season for the Illinois-based team was to secure a crown jewel race.

They did just that Saturday at Sebring (Fla.) Intl Raceway as Heinrich and his co-drivers, Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello, snagged the lead away during the final hour to win.

Obviously last year we won the championship, Heinrich began. We won three races in the process of that. But none of them were, lets say, one of the big three in the IMSA calendar: Daytona, Sebring or Petit.

So this year I want to defend the champion for myself and AO. For sure on my list was to win one of the big three. Daytona unfortunately didnt work where we were trying, but now it worked.

For me personally, its my very first major endurance win in sports car racing, Heinrich continued. Its a huge achievement. I couldnt have done it without my teammates Alessio and Klaus, my team AO and Porsche.

Yeah, Im over the moon. I think a moment like this will stay forever. Certainly a day I will remember hopefully for a really long time. I hope its the first of many.

The team also put an exclamation point on the victory as Heinrich broke the GT track record twice in the final stint, something that showed the pure strength of the teams race car after nearly 12 hours of competition.

The car really came alive when the sun went down, Heinrich said. Its always the crucial part of this race. Also when you prepare for this race, you always aim to have a quick car at the end when it really matters.

To be honest, AO and our engineer, hes done an amazing job at predicting what we need in these conditions because we dont know. Of course, we have the night practice, but after the night practice the track rubbers in even more. Its never the same. Its something you cannot really practice.

He has experience. He gave me the car to win the race, and I just pushed. I wanted to drive away from the others. I managed to do it.

Now with a victory under their belts, Rexy is second in the standings, 17 markers behind Ford Multimatic Motorsports No. 65 entry.