of 2012 Saturday at The Glen with a Third-Place Showing with Emil Assentato and AIM Autosport Team FXDD
GRAND-AM Rolex Series GT Championship Leader Continues Strong Season With Hard-Fought Podium In The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen
Jeff Segal continued to roll in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen where he joined co-drivers Emil Assentato and Anthony Lazzaro and the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am team for a come-from-behind third-place GT podium finish in Sunday’s six-hour race.
The result was a series-leading sixth podium showing for Segal and his teammates this season and perhaps the most difficult one to date. The No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari ran the majority of the race with a damaged left front corner after a contact incident in the race’s opening hour with another GT competitor.
“It was a really, really difficult race,” Segal said. “With the hot weather, we knew the race was going to be tough from the onset, and with where we sit with the points right now, we just needed to have a clean race. Everybody knew that was the plan, and I knew it more than anybody, but I was the one at the wheel when we had an incident with another car. I feel really bad about it but it was just an unavoidable deal, we were struggling on top speed this weekend anyway, and that didn’t help anything.”
The No. 69 dropped out of the top-10 after the incident but Segal, Assentato, Lazzaro and AIM Autosport Team FXDD steadily climbed back into contention in the race’s remaining five hours.
“It was a long fight back from there,” Segal said. “We lost some track position fixing that damage on the next pit stop but we made it a great race. The team rallied really strong, had fantastic pit stops, and the car didn’t miss a beat.”
Segal and his teammates also have a series-leading three GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race wins this year but Sunday’s race was just the third time this season the No. 69 failed to lead a lap in a race. The focus was instead on just salvaging a solid finish after the early incident.
“We didn’t give up,” Segal said. “We had a battered race car, and we didn’t have good track position, and we just took it one pass at a time, one pit stop at a time. The guys were stellar in the pits and we just kept leap frogging people and making passes where we could. At the end that clever strategy played out. We finished with no gas in the tank, starving for fuel on the cool-down lap, and that’s exactly how it should be done.”
Segal, Assentato and the No. 69 Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari leave Watkins Glen with a 16-point lead in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT Championship standings. Segal and Assentato have 250 points to top the driver standings while the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am leads the team championship with the same points total.
Next up for Jeff Segal, AIM Autosport Team FXDD and the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is the inaugural Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Friday, July 27, during Kroger Super Weekend at the Brickyard.
