56 Facts About Johnny Mowlem

Johnny Mowlem was born on 12 February 1969 and is a professional British racing driver.

Johnny Mowlem famously fell off his chair whilst commentating at the 2023 Le Mans 24hr race, having competed in every class of world championship sports car racing.

Johnny Mowlem is the 2013 European Le Mans Series GT champion, having previously won the British Porsche Cup championship in 1996 and 1997.

Johnny Mowlem has class victories in both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, and has earned podiums at virtually all of the world's major sports car races, including the Le Mans 24 hours and the 1000 km Nurburgring.

Johnny Mowlem has achieved overall podium finishes at the Daytona 24 hours as well as at Petit Le Mans.

Johnny Mowlem switched to sportscars in 1996, winning the Class 1 championship of the British Porsche Cup and then gained international recognition the following year when he won all 17 races of the British Porsche Cup to become British champion.

In 2010, Johnny Mowlem was a Lotus Racing factory driver, driving the American Le Mans Series and in the International GT Open Series for sports cars in Europe.

Johnny Mowlem's latest driving championship came in the European Le Mans Series in 2013.

Johnny Mowlem raced in the ALMS series every year that sanctioning body held races.

Johnny Mowlem operates his own driving academy, working with both corporate clients and drivers wishing for a career in racing.

Johnny Mowlem's career has been followed for over the last decade in his home country through a series of documentary television programs that air on the Television network Sky Sports Television.

Johnny Mowlem, who was born in London, was raised in Majorca, Spain from the age of one until he was seventeen years old.

Johnny Mowlem attended Leeds University where he achieved a joint Honors BA degree in Spanish and Economics.

Johnny Mowlem took part in the London Marathon, completing the distance, as part of a charity fundraiser by the British Racing Drivers Club in 2010.

Johnny Mowlem's effort was all the more remarkable as his training was limited by a torn Achilles tendon suffered three months earlier.

Johnny Mowlem ran the London Marathon again in 2011 lowering his personal best to the 3hr 45m mark.

Johnny Mowlem was inducted into the University of Leeds Sporting Hall of Fame in October 2018.

Johnny Mowlem started his racing career in 1990, at age 19, when he competed in Formula Ford 1600 at Brands Hatch.

Johnny 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 times.

Johnny Mowlem then switched to sports cars in 1996, racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain in 1996 and 1997, winning the class 1 championship in 1996 and then generating his first major media attention in 1997 by winning all 17 races to become British champion for the second time.

Johnny Mowlem earned the pole position for 14 of the 17 events.

Johnny Mowlem finished second in the GT class in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 1999.

Johnny Mowlem drove with a number of co-drivers in the GT and GT1 class.

At Sebring, Johnny Mowlem was teamed with Petersen Motorsports but the team withdrew the car following the death of co-driver Bob Wollek following a non-racing incident in the Sebring area.

Johnny Mowlem posted the fastest lap by a GT1 car during the Le Mans race.

Johnny Mowlem partnered with Randy Pobst to finish second in the GT class at Le Mans in 2002.

Johnny Mowlem was part of another team that withdrew from competition at Sebring in 2008.

In 2003 Johnny 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.

Johnny Mowlem won the GT class and again finished second overall at Daytona in 2004, driving with Robin Liddell, Mike Fitzgerald and Jay and Joe Policastro.

Johnny Mowlem finished third in the ALMS GT1 drivers' championship in 2004 and 2005.

Johnny Mowlem 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.

Johnny Mowlem won the 2005 UK Reading Sports Personality of the Year, an honour reserved for the top sports performers in his region.

Johnny 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.

In 2007 Johnny Mowlem 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.

Johnny Mowlem drove for the Risi Competizione Ferrari team as their third driver alongside Mika Salo and Jaime Melo in the longer endurance races.

Johnny Mowlem joined Corsa Motorsports for the 2008 ALMS season, racing a Ferrari in the GT2 class.

Johnny Mowlem's continuing association with the Zytek team resulted in a joint effort to race a hybrid-powered car in the P1 class in ALMS.

Johnny Mowlem did much of the test driving during the extensive development process conducted by Zytek.

In 2010 the hybrid program was put on hold but Johnny Mowlem has continued his career in ALMS securing drives in the LMPC at Long Beach and Laguna Seca and at Road America and Mosport in a LMP1 Lola driving for AutoCon.

Johnny Mowlem signed with Lotus in 2011 to drive race cars for the famed car maker.

Johnny Mowlem is the primary test driver for the company's development program.

Johnny Mowlem spearheaded the Le Mans 24 Lotus factory effort alongside Rossiter and Hirschi, starting the race and bringing the Lotus Evora GTE car home in its first major endurance event in 7th place in the GT class.

For 2012, Johnny Mowlem signed to drive selected long distance races racing in the LMP1 premier category for Dyson Racing in the American Le Mans Series.

Johnny Mowlem won the European Le Mans Series GTE driving championship in 2013.

Johnny Mowlem raced on the US side of the Atlantic in 2013.

Johnny Mowlem started the race and gave the car to Smith with the lead.

Johnny Mowlem raced a Ferrari for RAM Racing in defense of his 2013 European Le Mans GT championship and raced in both the United States-based United Sportscar Championship series and in the European Le Mans Series in the GT2 category.

Johnny Mowlem competed in a 12-hour race at Abu Dhabi in a Ferrari 458 GT3.

Johnny Mowlem repeated his pole-grabbing performance at Daytona when he captured the Prototype Challenge class pole position in advance of the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Johnny Mowlem has finished second 44 times and third 41 times.

Johnny Mowlem has captured 35 poles and posted 35 fastest laps during race action.

In European Le Mans Series competition, Johnny Mowlem has competed in 73 races, winning eight times, qualifying on the pole seven times and posting the fastest lap in the race seven times.

Johnny Mowlem has qualified in the top three 32 times and finished on the class or overall podium 32 times.

Johnny Mowlem became a well-known name in Britcar, after racing with FF Corse in Ferraris with Welsh driver Bonamy Grimes, in 2016 he claimed pole positions in his class at every venue he attended.

In 2017, instead of chosen entries, Grimes and Johnny Mowlem entered for the whole of the season, and at the end of the season they finished fourth overall in the endurance category and won the class 2 trophy.

In 2018, Johnny Mowlem only attended one round of the season with Ivor Dunbar in a 488 GT3, winning both races in his category.