Fall-Line Motorsports Press Release
Buffalo Grove, IL (August 6, 2014) - The Fall-Line Motorsports GTD team is excited to announce the addition of the 2014 Sebring 12 Hour winner and highly experienced sportscar driver Marino Franchitti to their lineup for the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America this weekend. Marino will join Charlie Putman in a continued effort to showcase outstanding performance of the Audi R8 LMS. The team has seen their fair share of misfortune in their sophomore year. Expecting results in their second season (first full-season) of competition with the Audi, Fall-Line has missed the mark several times and are now taking an aggressive approach to finish out 2014 with a flourish.
Charlie Putman and Charles Espenlaub have been sharing driving duties on the #46 Audi R8 LMS all season but are welcoming a new perspective from Franchitti at this weekend's event. Franchitti won the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year and has been racing sportscars for over thirteen years with numerous victories and pole positions. His knowledge and experience bring a unique insight to the team and a renewed approach to the program.
The addition of Franchitti will add a much needed element of expertise combined with a perspective that can enable us to progress. Both current drivers and team personnel are committed to taking this step to bolster the success of this exciting program moving forward.
#46 Fall-Line Motorsports Audi R8 LMS Driver Quotes:
Charlie Putman: "This year has been the "perfect storm" of misfortunes for us. It is sad because we have such great potential, yet small things keep snagging good finishes away from us. We will be really mixing things up in a dramatic way for the Road America race by bringing in more outside development help in an effort to get out of this slump. While we are still looking for a good result at Road America, we are placing a priority on validating both our car and driver development programs through some fresh eyes. We are all looking forward to getting a lot of work done at this event, and then carrying some fresh momentum forward."
Marino Franchitti: "It was great to get the call from Michael (Harvey, Team Manager) to come and drive with Fall-Line at Road America and I'm really looking forward to working with the team, Charlie, and Charles this weekend. Hopefully I can bring a fresh perspective to the program and help the team on the road back to the kind of performances they're capable of."
Charles Espenlaub: "The 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship has not been very kind to us at Fall-Line. As a team we have worked hard to overcome and move forward. As any competitive team we look for all avenues to accomplish that goal. We welcome Marino in joining our effort and helping turn around a rough season."
Michael Harvey, Fall-Line Motorsports Team Manager: "I am very excited to have Marino join us and I am so proud of our team for coming together and recognizing that we can all benefit from the addition of someone as talented as Marino. I would like to thank Charlie, Charles and Mark (Boden) for appreciating that a team is bigger than any individual and we really look forward to the remainder of the season."
The Road Race Showcase can be seen on FOX Sports 1 at 6:30p ET on August 10. The two-hour and 45-minute race will also have live timing and scoring available at www.imsa.com. Streaming of the qualifying show is available on the IMSA web site beginning at 4:20p ET on Saturday, August 9.
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: Fall-Line Motorsports / Wes Duenkel
