After launching a livery design contest for its Oreca LMP2 car, Era Motorsport has selected six-year-old Owen’s creation to run at the upcoming Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The team originally asked fans to pen a livery early last year, aiming to run it at Petit Le Mans. As race schedules became disrupted, though, it got pushed back until now. Owen’s dad helped him enter the competition while looking for homeschooling activities for a motorsport-mad six-year-old, finding the printout template on Era’s website.
The team faithfully replicated Owen’s crayon lines on the wrap for its car, giving the No. 8 machine a striking, scribbly look. It’ll help this specific Oreca stand out amongst the rest of the LMP2 entries, which will compete in the race’s top pro-am category. DPi, meanwhile, will remain the premier pro-only class for at least another year or two as the LMDH prototype has likely been delayed to 2023.
On learning about his win, Owen sent a note to the team:
“Hello Kyle Tilley and Era Motorsports,
Thank you for this contest. My name is Owen and I am 6 ¾. My favorite things are racing and hockey. I am learning to drive on a racing simulator. I chose this design because I like the colours and thunderbolts and flames are cool.
This was fun because my grandpa, dad, and me all like racing and we were stuck at home during COVID.”
It’s been a good year for six-year-olds winning motorsport design competitions in lockdown after Eva Muttram created Lando Norris’ iconic British Grand Prix look.
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