Will Owen, graduate of Valor Christian High School, is in his fourth season of professional racing, now with United Autosports in Europe.

By Kathy Fallert; photos courtesy of Will Owen

Will Owen, former resident of Castle Pines Village, has been showing his speed in the Le Mans racing series (ELMS). Owen is a member of the British United Autosports team competing in ELMS for its fourth consecutive season.

Owen began go kart racing at the age of 15. Neighbor JD Mobley was mowing the lawn for the Owen family when Owen and Mobley became friends. Mobley was into racing himself and got Owen started on the same path.

At the age of 18, Owen moved from go karts to cars and is now 22 years old and races all over Europe. For now, Owen commutes to Europe for his races and travels from Fort Worth, Texas where up until last semester was attending Texas Christian University. During the summers, Owen still enjoys spending time in Colorado visiting his family in Castle Pines Village.

Owen commented, “Starting my career in Colorado was key to helping me get up to speed in my early days of racing. I was able to go to the local go kart track almost every day of the week to practice. It’s pretty crazy to think about that small scale when now I am traveling overseas to Europe. When I’m over there home seems far away, but really all the racing and life experience from when I lived in Colorado is still all in my head making a difference. I’m proud to be a Coloradan from Castle Rock; to anyone else that doesn’t mean much, but to me it is a reminder of all the work put in and challenges overcome back home.”

Pictured from left to right: Drivers Hugo De Sadeleer from Switzerland, Will Owen from the U.S. and Filipe Albuquerque from Portugal finished in fourth place in class as a team during the Le Mans endurance race held in Le Mans, France. The 24-hour race had each driver alternating for two-hour shifts of racing.

A racing season for Owen consists of seven races, which he competes in as part of a team, similar to a relay team. The entire team consists of one car with three drivers and more than 12 crew members for each car. Owen’s relay car team is Hugo De Sadeleer from Switzerland and Filipe Albuquerque from Portugal. They drive a Ligier JSP217 LMP2, which is a French prototype car built for speed created by former race car driver and rugby player Guy Ligier. United Autosports is doing its best to chase the championship spot for the year. So far they have had two wins, and currently are second in the ELMS Championship. They also finished fourth in class at the highly respected and historic endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Owen raced last month at 4 Hours of Spa in the Ardennes region of Belgium where the team finished fourth. Owen’s upcoming race for October will be 4 Hours of Portimao on October 22 in southern Portugal.