Watkins Glen, New York – June 27, 2018 – AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports welcomes Will Owen to join Sebastian Saavedra and Gustavo Yacaman to take on the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in the #52 Liger JS P217. The event marks the halfway point of the 2018 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship, being the sixth round of the 12-race season.
Owen is no stranger to the AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports crew after testing a prototype for the very first time with PR1 back in 2016, and making his IMSA racing debut with them at Long Beach in 2017. Since then, the American has made leaps and bounds in his sportscar career finishing second in the 2017 European Le Mans Series championship, fourth at this year’s Rolex 24, and most recently on the podium of the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans just two weeks ago with teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Hugo de Sadeleer. Last year, PR1 Motorsports had a strong showing at the Six Hours of the Glen starting from the front row and finishing 4th, making it their best result of the season.
AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports will be looking to better their 2017 4th place finish after being the top LMP2 car in the past two rounds of the 2018 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship. Track action beings on Friday morning, June 29th at 10:25 a.m. EDT with the first practice session of the weekend. Two more practices will take place before Qualifying goes green on Saturday from 12:25 p.m. to 12:40 p.m. A final warm-up will kick off race day and the battle for the podium of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen will begin at 9:45 a.m. EDT on Sunday, June 30th. You can find more details and who to tune into live sessions at https://sportscarchampionship.imsa.com/events/2018-sahlens-six-hours-glen.
Will Owen – Driver
“I’m glad to be racing back to the USA! I have never driven at Watkins Glen but it is an essential track that every American driver should know. I have played it on the simulator and I can’t wait to get out there for real. This will be the second race I have done with PR1 Motorsports, and I’m excited to catch up with the team again. I have open expectations, but I am hoping that WGI will favor the Ligier over other chassis. No matter what the race will be competitive, and to win we will have to do our best.”
Gary Peterson - Team Principal
“We are very happy to welcome Will to our team, even though I haven’t had the chance to meet him in person I've heard nothing but good things about him and he brings a lot of LMP2 experience with our Ligier JS P217 chassis, not to mention that he's coming off a very strong podium result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It's a shame not to have Roberto Gonzalez with us but we are definitely looking forward to another strong weekend for the AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports team and we hope that the Watkins Glen track will be a good venue for our car."
Bobby Oergel - Team Principal
"We have followed Will's career for years now and we're thrilled that he can join us again for Watkins Glen. He has proven to be a very accomplished endurance racer, and with his experience in Europe, he will be a great addition to our team. Last year we were very strong at Watkins Glen and we are confident that we can once again be fighting for our best result of the season this weekend."