Fall-Line Motorsports Press Release
Buffalo Grove, IL (May 1, 2014) - Following a successful 12-hour race at Sebring in March, the Fall-Line Motorsports TUDOR United SportsCar Championship team heads to the beautiful coast of Northern California at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with the two "Charlies" of (Charlie) Putman and (Charles) Espenlaub.
Putman and Espenlaub will pilot the #46 Fall-Line Motorsports Audi R8 LMS for the third race of the season at the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course. The pair currently sit 21st in overall GTD driver standings after a heartbreaking race at the season-opening Daytona race, but bounced back at Sebring and nearly came up with a podium. They had to settle for 6th after a late race incident with a Prototype.
The Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix will take place Sunday at 1:15p ET and will be the first non-endurance event of the 2014 season and will feature two, two-hour races. The (GT Daytona) GTD class will race with the Prototype Challenge (PC) class in the first race followed by the Prototypes (P) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) later in the afternoon.
With only two classes on-track at once, traffic will be manageable but still factor into overall strategy. A much shorter format than the first two races of the season will force a different approach for the GTD team but they are as prepared as ever.
Charlie Putman: "Mazda Raceway at Laguna will be our first short race of the year and thus we only have two drivers. Back to just '"the Charlies" in the Audi R8 LMS will be fun, but yet challenging for us. The layoff between races presents more challenges for the team than you might imagine. We were just getting into our groove at Sebring, and the entire team will have to concentrate in order to pick up where we left off. Charles (Espenlaub) and I have been busy testing and racing to stay ready and the crew has had time to go through the #46 and get ready for the tough schedule ahead. We are chomping at the bit. Let the fun begin!"
Charles Espenlaub: "After a very long wait, we are ready to get back to racing. I couldn't be happier! It's just Charlie and I again and I couldn't be more pleased to get back behind the wheel of our Audi R8 LMS!"
Michael Harvey, Fall-Line Motorsports Team Manager: "It's great to get back to racing again, this break has been quite long but has enabled us to do much work in preparation for the hectic schedule coming up. It's always great to race at Mazda Raceway and this event represents the first track of 2014 that we raced in 2013 with our Audi. Charlie and Charles are ready after just coming back from some running at the Nurburgring. As always the GTD field is the most competitive in the TUDOR series and this weekend is the first time all teams will be running just their regular two driver pairings, so we are excited to get going."
Tune into IMSA.com to watch the IMSA Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda Qualifying at 7:55p ET on Saturday, May 3rd. The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race (GTD/ PC) will be televised LIVE on Fox Sports 1 on Sunday May 4th at 1:00p ET.
Fall-Line Motorsports is a premiere builder and fabricator of racecars for all levels of competition. Fall-Line specializes in BMW, Porsche, Audi and other high-performance makes. Fall-Line Motorsports unveiled their Grand-Am team in 2006 and won the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS Championship title in 2010. In addition to fielding 3 GS BMW M3s in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and an Audi R8 LMS in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, Fall-Line also prepares and fabricates cars for other CTSC teams, SCCA and NASA drivers, track day prepared and high performance street vehicles. www.fall-linemotorsports.com @FallLineMotors www.facebook.com/Falllinemotorsports
ABOUT AUDI OF AMERICA AND THE AUDI R8 LMS
Audi began a new chapter in 2009 with the introduction of the Audi Sport customer racing program. For the first time it was possible for motorsport customers to acquire a race car designed for customer racing events. Since its inception, the success of the R8 LMS has been significant throughout the GT3 racing format worldwide, including victory in the GT class in the 2013 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Audi R8 LMS shares more than 50% of its parts with the Audi R8 street car including the naturally aspirated V10 5.2 Liter engine, the Audi Space Frame and a variety of other components.
Audi of America, Inc. and its U.S. dealers offer a full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. AUDI AG is among the most successful luxury automotive brands globally. Audi was a top-performing luxury brand in Europe during 2012, and broke all-time company sales records in the U.S. Through 2016, AUDI AG will invest about $17 billion on new products and technologies.
Visit www.audiusa.com or www.audiusanews.com for more information regarding Audi vehicle and business issues.
Photo credit: Wes Duenkel Motorsport Photography / Fall-Line Motorsports
