Emanuele
Naspetti

Emanuele Naspetti was born in Ancona on 24 February 1968. He started racing at the age of twelve and spent seven years in karting until 1986, taking part in more than 200 races. In 1987 he joined Forti Corse in Italian Formula 3, and in 1988 he won the title in a Dallara-Alfa Romeo. In 1989 he entered International Formula 3000 with Roni Motorsport. Eddie Jordan Racing then signed him to replace Jean Alesi, who had moved up to Formula 1 as champion. In 1991 he returned to Forti Corse, won four races and came close to the title.

Naspetti made his Formula 1 debut in 1992 with March and started five races that season. To do so he gave up Formula 3000. In 1993 he was Jordan's official test driver and started one Grand Prix for the team. He also contested some rounds of Japanese Formula 3000 that year. In total he made six world championship starts.

From 1994 he concentrated on saloon cars in Super Touring championships. He took 31 wins and won the Italian Superturismo Championship in 1997. That year he also won the diesel class at the 24 Hours of Spa and finished third overall. In 2000 he raced a Lola-Judd at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He began his GT career in 2001 with a Ferrari 550 Maranello run by Rafanelli in the FIA GT Championship. In 2002 and 2003 he drove the same model in the American Le Mans Series, and in 2004 he returned to the FIA GT Championship in a GPC Ferrari 575. In 2005 he drove a Panoz at the 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2006 he finished second in the revived Italian Superturismo Championship in a BMW with five wins, and in 2009 he won a race at Adria in the Italian Porsche Carrera Cup.

Source: Wikipedia, “Emanuele Naspetti”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.