Emil Assentato (born May 21, 1949) is an American racing driver born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. His career has seen him competing in the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional ...

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

competition from 1973-1976 in local as well as National events. In that time he had four podium finishes and won the 1974 New York Region Formula Ford class. After 19 years of reluctant retirement after a death defying accident at Lime Rock Park Labor Day 1976, interspersed with occasional go-karting events, Emil re-entered competition in 1995 in the Ferrari Challenge Series campaigning a

Ferrari 348 The Ferrari 348 (Type F119) is a mid-engine V8-powered 2-seat sports car produced by Italian automaker Ferrari, replacing the 328 in 1989 and remaining in production until 1995. It was the final V8 model developed under the direction of Enzo ...

Challenge for most of the 1995 and 1996 events in North America. In 1996 he compiled 3 wins and a second and third in five starts in that series. He debuted a

Ford Mustang Cobra The Ford SVT Mustang Cobra (also known as SVT Mustang Cobra, SVT Cobra, or simply as Cobra) is a muscle car/pony car model that was built in model years 1993 through 2004 by Ford Motor Company's Special Vehicle Team division (or SVT). The SVT ...

R in Motorola Cup competition in 1996 with teammate Nick Longhi and competed part-time with that car in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. Entered a full-time program with the same car in 2001 in

Grand-Am Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. ...

Cup competition. He and Nick Longhi won their first major event in this series in November 2001 at the Daytona Finale and nearly won the GS II championship with it in 2002, losing that Championship chase by 7 points because of a DNF in the final race. He also competed in the Rolex GT Series in 2000 with Spencer Pumpelly in five races in which their best finish was sixth. Competed in several Rolex races in 2001, 2002 and 2003, and campaigned full-time in 2004 (Maserati) and 2005 (

Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

Cup). Starting in 2008 Emil joins the Mazda backed Speedsource Group competing in the #69 SpeedSource

Mazda RX-8 The Mazda RX-8 is a sports car manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Mazda between 2002 and 2012. It was first shown in 2001 at the North American International Auto Show. It is the successor to the RX-7 and, like its predecessors i ...

in the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

GT-class for the next five years. The team captured their first class win in the 6 hour race at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

with teammates Longhi and

Jeff Segal Jeffrey Segal (born 27 April 1985 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American racing driver who competes in the United SportsCar Championship for Michael Shank Racing. He is a two-time Rolex Sports Car Series GT class champion and winner of the ...

. Emil Assentato with his teammate Jeff Segal captured the 2010 Rolex GT Class Championship in #69 Fxdd Mazda RX-8, winning three races as well as finishing in the top five at almost all the events. After one more season in the #69 Fxdd Mazda RX-8, both Jeff and Emil moved on to Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am for the 2012 season. In that historic 2012 season (as it marked the return of Ferrari to Grand Am competition after a ten-year hiatus) Emil captured a second Rolex GT Class Championship with teammate Jeff Segal. Again winning three races and finishing in the top five positions in 90% of events. In Emil's last season he teamed up with Anthony Lazzaro in which they placed fourth in the Championship and proved to be a car to contend with at all events they competed in. After the last race Emil decided to retire from competitive racing. Below are listed some final results over the years. GT69 Emil Assentato Jeff Segal 2011 Road America

GT69 Emil Assentato Jeff Segal 2011 Road America

Podium finishes in the Rolex GT Series included: 3rd in the

6 Hours of Watkins Glen The Six Hours of Watkins Glen (currently sponsored as the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen) is a sports car endurance race held annually at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. The race dates from 1948, and has been a part of the ...

, 2002: 3rd, Six hours of

Mont Tremblant Mont may refer to: Places * Mont., an abbreviation for Montana, a U.S. state * Mont, Belgium (disambiguation), several places in Belgium * Mont, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in France * Mont, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in France * Mont, ...

, 2004: 3rd, Virginia International Raceway, 2004; 2nd GT Class, Rolex

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layo ...

2005. Competed in several events in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

in a BMW M3 E46 in 2002. 2008 - Rolex GT Watkins Glen 6 Hour 1st place 2009 - Rolex GT Watkins Glen 2 Hour 1st place, Rolex GT Montreal 3rd place.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Assentato, Emil 1949 births 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Living people Racing drivers from New York City 24 Hours of Spa drivers United Autosports drivers