One day after the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, Sunday November 20, drivers Patricio O’Ward and Will Owen will have the opportunity to test with RGR Sport during the official “Rookie Test” at Bahrain International Circuit. Both young drivers will be driving a Nissan Ligier JS P2 for the first time after coming from a predominately open-wheel background and just finishing competing against each other in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
O’Ward, just seventeen years old, has a background of karting within the United States Italy, and Mexico as well as European open-wheel experience. His focus on open-wheel went mainstream in 2015 during his rookie season of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires where he finished sixth. O’Ward battled for the Championship title throughout the entire 2016 season, but ultimately finished second with seven race wins out of the sixteen races.
Driver – Patricio O’ward “Testing in Bahrain will be the first time I have ever driven a prototype. I’m really looking forward this awesome experience since I will be able to see how things operate within RGR Sport and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
This will be the fastest racecar I have ever driven, by far and I couldn’t be more pumped to test it out on a Formula 1 circuit. Bahrain has been a track on my bucket list for a long time and I’m finally getting to drive it in a car that I’m sure will be super enjoyable.”
Coming from a similar background as O’Ward, Owen grew up karting at all the major events in the United States. Venturing through the motorsport world, Owen eventually made his way into the Mazda Road to Indy and was noticed for his victory at the Inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis in the Cooper tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda in 2014. The following year he was able to join championship winning team, Juncos Racing for his rookie season of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires where he finished seventh. Before re-joining Juncos Racing for his second year in Pro Mazda, Owen took his career international competing in the Toyota Racing Series in the off-season. Owen closed 2016 with eight podiums and finished fourth in the Pro Mazda championship.
Driver – Will Owen “I’m very thankful for the opportunity to test with RGR Sport at the FIA World Endurance Championship Rookie Test in Bahrain. It’s a very unique opportunity to drive with such a prestigious team on such a big scale. This will definitely be the fastest car I have ever driven, but I feel that the last few years in open wheel have prepared me for it. There will be a lot of important eyes watching from within the motorsport community as well, so I am treating the weekend very seriously so that I am quicker than the other young drivers that are testing.
I’m also looking forward to seeing what a big team like RGR Sport expects from their drivers. RGR has top of the line engineers, drivers, and personnel, so if I communicate well with the team that could build good relationships for my future in sportscars. Checking out the LMP2 Ligier JS P2 is going to be a lot of fun and I am excited to venture to a new country far from home to try it.”
Team Owner/Driver for RGR Sport – Ricardo Gonzalez “For our team its very important to be able to give opportunities to young drivers like Pato and Will to come into the sport and show what they can do. Obviously for our sponsors Mexico and the USA are very important markets and to be able to promote young athletes and open doors for them is one of the main reasons why we wanted to have our own team.”
Team Manager – Toni Calderon “We’re very happy to be able to invite Will and Pato to be our rookies in Bahrain, i’ve followed both their careers for a long time and they are both currently at the top of their game. I have no doubt that they will be able to get up to speed right away and with the help of our RGR engineers and with Bruno and Filipe coaching them that they will quickly get an idea of what the sportscars world is like. Even though it’s just a one day test, we will put them to work and we will take this test day as seriously as we have any other day this season.”