Nguyen Owen Tangavelou (born 4 March 2005) is a French-Vietnamese racing driver who last competed in the USF Pro 2000 Championship and Eurocup-3.
Born of a Flemish-Polish mother and a Vietnamese father, Tangavelou grew up in the suburbs of Paris. Tangavelou began competitive kart racing at the age of 14 and stepped up to single-seaters a year later. He competed in French F4 and Formula Regional for two years each, before winning on his Eurocup-3 debut in 2024 for MP Motorsport. He moved to the United States in 2025, racing in USF Pro 2000 for Velocity Racing Development and later DEForce Racing.
Tangavelou started his career at the relatively late age of fourteen in France. He raced in several regional competitions before stepping up to Formula 4.
In 2020, Tangavelou made his car racing debut in the French F4 Championship. Due to a lack of testing prior to the season, as well as him stating that he had "not enough experience" in racing at the time, the Vietnamese driver finished 12th in the championship with a best race result of fifth place at Le Castellet.
Tangavelou remained in French F4 for 2021. The Vietnamese driver started his season out strongly with his first podium in single-seaters at the opening race in Nogaro. He scored a further podium later in the season in the reversed-grid race at the Circuit Paul Ricard and finished fifth in the standings, having also set two fastest laps. In the FIA standings of the championship, Tangavelou also finished fifth, with a total of nine podiums, including three third places at the Hungaroring.
Moving into 2022, Tangavelou made his debut in the Formula Regional category by racing in the final three rounds of the Formula Regional Asian Championship with Hitech Grand Prix. He had a best finish of 13th in the final race, one in which he scored a rookie podium, and ended up 31st in the standings.
TangavelouâÂÂs main series that year would be the Formula Regional European Championship, which he would contest with G4 Racing. Following the first half of the season, which yielded a best finish of 14th at Le Castellet, Tangavelou switched to the RPM team to partner Pietro Delli Guanti. His results would improve almost instantly, with him getting his first points at the Hungaroring and scoring two further ninth places at the next round in Spa-Francorchamps. Another point came at the Red Bull Ring, before Tangavelou scored a season-best finish of sixth place at the season finale in Mugello, thereby taking the rookie victory within that race, which elevated him to twentieth in the standings.
In 2023, Tangavelou moved to Trident for his second season in the series.
To represent his family living in Vietnam, Tangavelou decided to compete under a Vietnamese licence. After spending two seasons in Formula Regional, he switched to the Eurocup-3 championship for the 2024 season, driving for MP Motorsport. Tangavelou finished third in the Eurocup-3 Winter Series with one podium. He became the first Vietnamese driver to win in Europe, notably at the Red Bull Ring, and to achieve three pole positions at this level in Eurocup-3.
Tangavelou returned to Eurocup-3 in 2025 with Drivex for the third round in Paul Ricard, where he had a best finish of eleventh. He returned the next round in Monza, moving over to Allay Racing where he once again had a best finish of eleventh.
Tangavelou switched to racing in America for 2025, racing in the USF Pro 2000 Championship with Velocity Racing Development. He made a strong debut, finishing fifth in the second race at St. Petersburg. In early May, it was announced that Tangavelou would join DEForce Racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Road America events.
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Season still in progress.
() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
â Driver did not finish the race but was classified, as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.<br> <nowiki>*</nowiki> Season still in progress.
() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Season still in progress.