Johnny Mowlem
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Johnny Mowlem (born 12 February 1969, in London) is a racing driver from the United Kingdom. He lives near London now but was raised in Mallorca, Spain from the age of 1 until seventeen years old, then returning to England to attend Leeds University where he earned a joint Honors BA degree in Spanish and Economics. Along with his wife, Fiona, he has two children; a son named Reece and a daughter, Sereina. Fiona Mowlem is best known as an actress although she is now a qualified professional photographer and both children also have acting and commercial work to their credit.
Mowlem is regarded as among the world’s best sports car GT drivers. He has won class victories in both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, and has earned class podiums at virtually every major sports car race in the world, including the famous Le Mans 24 hours and the 1000 km Nürburgring. He has also achieved overall podium finishes at the Daytona 24 hours (2003/2004) as well as at the Petit Le Mans 10 hour race, competing in the LMP1 Zytek prototype machine alongside Stefan Johansson and Haruki Kurosawa, to record second place behind the factory Audi of Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello. Mowlem also operates his own driving academy, working with both corporate clients and drivers wishing for a career in racing.
Mowlem’s career has been followed in his home country through a series of television programs on Sky Sports television, which has followed him for the last 9 years and provides viewers with an unparalleled opportunity for behind-the-scenes access to the sport.
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[edit] Career Beginnings
Johnny Mowlem has raced in nearly every type of road racing car, including testing an Arrows Formula One car. He started his racing career at age 19 when he competed in an open wheel Formula Ford 1600 at Brands Hatch in 1990.
Moving his way up the racing ladder, Mowlem raced for Jackie Stewart’s Staircase of Talent team in the British Formula Vauxhall Lotus class before moving up to the British Formula 3 championship in 1995, winning four national victories.
Mowlem then switched to sports cars in 1996, racing in the British Porsche Cup in 1996 and 1997, winning the class 1 championship in 1996 and then generated his first major media attention in 1997 by winning all 17 races to become British champion for the second time. He earned the pole position for 14 of the 17 events. Winning this championship by remaining un-defeated throughout an entire season earned him international recognition and the Gregor Grant Award for outstanding achievement in motorsport at the International Autosport Awards.
[edit] The World Stage
By the start of the 1998 season, Johnny Mowlem was a racing professional and was competing internationally against the best drivers in the world. He and co-driver David Murry finished first in the GT class in an American Le Mans Series race at Laguna Seca Raceway.
Mowlem also finished second in the GT class in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 1999. The 2000 season included second place class finishes in the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. By then Mowlem was full time competitor in the North American-based ALMS while living in England. In 2001, Mowlem continued his ALMS career. He drove with a number of co-drivers in the GT and GT1 class. He posted the fastest lap by a GT1 car during the Le Mans race.
Mowlem teamed with Randy Pobst to finish second in the GT class at Le Mans in 2002. He teamed with international stars Tony Stewart and Jan Lammers to drive a factory Crawford racecar in the Daytona Prototype category at Daytona. An engine failure stopped the trio after 15 hours.
[edit] Major victories and championships
In 2003 Mowlem continued to compete in the United States, earning a second place in GT and second overall at the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours, as well as victory at the ALMS round held at Road America.
Mowlem won the GT class and again finished second overall at Daytona in 2004, teaming with Robin Liddell, Mike Fitzgerald and Jay and Joe Policastro.
Mowlem finished third in the ALMS GT1 drivers’ championship in 2004 and 2005. He also competed in several Rolex Sports Car Series events in the United States during those seasons and, including trips for testing sessions, crossed the Atlantic Ocean about 100 times during those two years. Mowlem won the 2005 UK Reading Sports Personality of the Year, an honor reserved for the top sports performers in his region. Mowlem showed his adaptability during the 2006 season, racing an Aston Martin DBRS9 for Autosport Design Racing in the SPEED World Challenge GT series as well as competing in the International GT Open series in a Porsche and in two different classes in the ALMS. The latter led to one of the highlights of his career. Racing in the ALMS, Mowlem won the GT2 class at Mosport in a Ferrari, and then drove for the factory Zytek team in the LMP1 class in the last two races of the season. Teaming with former Formula One driver Stefan Johansson and Japanese Haruki Kurosawa, Mowlem finished second overall in the demanding Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta and nearly won the season finale from pole position, again with Johansson, at the newly renamed Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
In 2007 Mowlem has continued his strong association with Ferrari, racing a 430 in the GT2 class for the Pirelli factory GPC Ferrari team in the Le Mans Series as well as the International GT Open championship. He also drove for the Risi Competizione Ferrari team as their third driver alongside Mika Salo and Jaime Melo in the longer endurance races. This driver combination brought Ferrari a class victory in the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring, with the closest margin of victory in the history of the championship, two tenths of a second. That victory margin added to Mowlem’s closest finish in Daytona 24 Hours history in 2004, where he finished 6.7 seconds ahead of Mike Rockenfeller after 24 hours of racing. At Le Mans in 2007, Salo/Melo/Mowlem were leading their class by 3 laps when Melo had an unfortunate accident, spinning on an oil slick seventeen hours in the event.
