Paul Gentilozzi

Paul Gentilozzi 2005

The Rocketsports Jaguar XKR GT2; driven by Bruno Junqueira at the Petit Le Mans 2011

Paul Gentilozzi (born February 6, 1950 in Lansing ) is an American entrepreneur and former racing car driver and racing team owner.

Entrepreneur

Paul Gentilozzi graduated from Michigan State University in East Lansing with a degree in economics . He became wealthy by building, selling and renting commercial properties .

Racing career

Paul Gentilozzi's driver career began in the early 1980s in US sports car racing . It made its first international appearance in 1983 at the Sebring 12-hour race . Together with Dave Heinz and Jerry Thompson , he drove a Chevrolet Camaro in 26th place overall. In 1986 he started regularly for the first time in the IMSA GTP series . The Oldsmobile Toronados used were reported by his own Rocketsports Racing team. The first podium was achieved with third place in the Portland 300 km race .

He scored his first victory in 1988 in a Trans-Am race in Long Beach . Gentilozzi subsequently celebrated his greatest successes as a driver in this North American sports car series. Four times, in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004, he won the drivers' overall classification. In the 1990s and 2000s he also drove in the American Le Mans Series and competed twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans . Internationally, overall victory at the Daytona 24-hour race in 1994 was his greatest success as a driver.

Racing team owner and team boss

In 1985 Paul Gentilozzi founded Rocketsports Racing, initially as a team for his assignments in the Trans-Am series. The team was active in this series until the end of the 2004 season - then the racing series was discontinued - and holds all noteworthy records: nine team titles, 57 individual victories, most pole positions , the most frequent placements among the top three and the highest sum of wins Prize money. In 2003 the team joined the Champ Cars as a driver with Alex Tagliani .

In 2009, Rocketsport became RSR Racing , which was involved in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1994	Clayton Cunningham Racing	Nissan 300ZX	Eric van de Poele	Shunji Kasuya	failure	Ignition damage
2010	Jaguar Rocketsports Racing	Jaguar XKR GT2	Ryan Dalziel	Marc Goossens	failure	Engine failure

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1983	Dave Heinz Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	Jerry Thompson	Dave Heinz		Rank 26
1985	Whitehall Promotions	Porsche 924 Carrera GTR	Austin Godsey	Kent Hill		failure	Engine failure
1986	Whitehall Rocketsports	Oldsmobile Toronado	Tom Winters	Bob Bergstrom	Gene Felton	failure	Gearbox damage
1987	Whitehall Rocketsports	Oldsmobile Toronado	Tom Winters	Irv Hoerr		Rank 15
1992	Rocket sports	Oldsmobile Cutlass	George Robinson	Irv Hoerr	In it Brassfield	Rank 7 and class win
1993	Rocket sports	Oldsmobile Cutlass	Dorsey Schroeder	Calvin Fish		Rank 8
1994	Cunningham Racing	Nissan 300ZX	Butch Leitzinger			failure	Cylinder overheated
2010	Jaguar RSR	Jaguar XKRS	Ryan Dalziel	Marc Goossens		failure	cooler

Web links

Commons : Paul Gentilozzi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• About Rocketsports
• Paul Gentilozzi at Racing Sports Cars
• Paul Gentilozzi at the Driver Database

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul Gentilozzi in the Road Racing Drivers Club
2. ↑ 1986 300km Portland Race
3. ^ 1988 Long Beach Trans-Am Race
4. ↑ 1994 Daytona 24 Hours