21/5/1944 - 6/8/1996
Record updated 10-Mar-08
Emilio Rodriguez Zapico was a little known Spanish racing driver.
He started out in Spanish Formula Seat, finishing second in the first Formula Nacional SEAT 1430 Spanish Championship before moving on to Touring Cars in the 1973 ETCC with a Ford Escort RS1600. He also contested the 400km European Sportscar Championship round at Montjuich Park driving a Chevron B23 Ford for the Promoto team.
He and a local sponsor did a deal with the then-struggling Williams team to land a drive the Team Mapfre's old Williams FW04 in the Spaniard's home GP. The Williams FW04 that Zapico used was already a year old and he failed by 7/10ths to get the last place of the grid.
Over the following years he raced occasionally in the ETCC. In 1983 he shared an Alfetta GTV with Rinaldo Drovandi and also raced in 1984 in a BMW 635.
And, apart from a brief foray into European F3 in 1984 in a Ralt RT3 Alfa Romeo (at the age of 40!), he was not see in single seaters again.
Zapico was sadly killed in a road accident in Huete, Spain, in 1996.