Henry Hassid

Henry Hassid is a French businessman and gentleman racer who started his racing career in 2000, at the age 40, and since then he gained some notable success in the sports car racing.

He was a French GT champion in 2012 and a vice-champion in 2014. In 2015, he finished second in GTE class of the European Le Mans Series. Most recently, he competed in the Ferrari Challenge Europe, finishing second in the 2017 Coppa Shell classification.

Henry Hassid

Starting a racing career at the age 40

After making his career in a pharmaceutical business, Henry Hassid entered his first auto racing competition in 2000. It was the French Formula Renault. In the following years, he competed in the Formula Ford, French Superproduction Championship or French GT Championship.

Parallel to his French GT Championship commitments with Ruffier Racing's Porsche, he was also driving a Porsche 996 GT3 Cup in the Porsche Carrera Cup France.

Four-time Carrera Cup gentlemen champion

Th first great success came in 2007 when Hassid was the Class B (gentlemen drivers) champion in the Porsche Carrera Cup France, driving a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup for Pilotage Passion team. He was 14th in the overall standings.

In 2008, he was defeated by Philippe Gaillard and then he took three more Class B titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In the overall standings, he progressed to the fifth place in 2010 and fourth place in 2011, driving for Pro GT by Almeras team. In 2011, he also participated in two rounds of the Porsche Supercup.

Henry Hassid and Anthony Beltoise in 2012

French GT champion in 2012

In 2012, Hassid stayed with Pro GT by Almeras but his main competition was the French GT Championship. After scoring three wins and nine podiums in the #2 Porsche 997 GT3 R, he and Anthony Beltoise won the championship title.

In 2012, Hassid also spent a season in the Blancpain Endurance Series, scoring one Pro-Am class podium in six races. His partners in the #34 Porsche were Anthony Beltoise and Roland Berville. At Spa 24 Hours, Nicolas Armindo joined them as the fourth driver and they finished 21st. In 2012, Hassid also appeared in two rounds of the Porsche Supercup.

2013 – first season in a BMW Z4 GT3

For the 2013 French GT season, Hassid joined TDS Racing to drive the #5 BMW Z4 GT3 together with Ludovic Badey. With two wins, they finished ninth in the points.

Hassid was also driving the #25 BMW Z4 GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series, including Spa 24 Hours, but without notable results.

Henry Hassid

French GT vice-champion in Sebastien Loeb's Audi

In 2014, Hassid was combining three German brands, driving an Audi R8 LMS for Sebastien Loeb Racing in the French GT Championship and BMW Z4 GT3 for TDS Racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series but also three different cars (Audi, Porsche, BMW) in three rounds of the European Le Mans Series.

Scoring two wins and six podiums, Hassid was the French GT vice-champion, together with Mike Parisy, losing a title by two points to Nicolas Armindo/Raymond Narac.

In the Blancpain Endurance Series,  Henry Hassid scored two Pro-Am class wins in a BMW, finishing fourth in the final points. His co-driver was Nicky Catsburg. In three ELMS rounds, Hassid was a race winner once, with Marc VDS Racing Team's BMW at Estoril, together with Bas Leinders and Markus Palttala, finishing sixth in GTC class standings.

Second place in the 2015 European Le Mans Series

In 2015, Hassid spent full season driving BMWs in the European Le Mans Series and Blancpain Endurance Series. He was driving the #52 BMW Z4 GT3 for BMW Team Marc VDS  in the ELMS GTE class, finishing second in the points together with Andy Priaulx and Jesse Krohn.

In the Blancpain Endurance Series, he was driving the #12 BMW for TDS Racing, sharing a car with Franck Perera and Eric Dermont. They finished just 18th in points of Pro-Am Cup.

Henry Hassid in 2015

Switching to Lamborghini Super Trofeo in 2016

In 2015, Hassid also made a one-off appearance in the North American Pirelli World Challenge with Lamborghini Gallardo, switching completely to Lamborghini Super Trofeo one-make series in 2016. He competed in the European edition of Super Trofeo with Konrad Motorsport, finishing fourth in Pro-Am classification. His co-driver was Nicolas Armindo.

In 2016, he also spent a season in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup with ISR team's Audi R8 LMS, sharing a car with Franck Perera and Philippe Giauque. They finished second in Pro-Am Cup classification.

Three different competitions in 2017

In 2017, Henry Hassid was active in three different competitions with three completely different types of cars. He was driving a Porsche Cayman GT4 for Martinet by Almeras in the GT4 European Series Southern Cup, finishing fourth in Pro-Am classification.

The other car was a Ferrari 488 Challenge which he was driving for Charles Pozzi team in the Ferrari Challenge Europe, finishing second in the Coppa Shell classification but also second at Finali Mondiali at Mugello. Hassid also participated in two rounds of the European Le Mans Series, driving a Ligier JS P3 prototype for Duqueine Engineering.

In 2018, he reduced his racing commitments to Ferrari Challenge only. Then, in 2019, he was out of racing.

Photos: sportscar365.com, David Legangneux,