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POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (October 16, 2002) --
Marino Franchitti is to follow in fellow Scotsman Allan McNish’s
wheeltracks
and drive an Audi in America. The 24-year-old Broxburn-born driver who
recently
moved to Bathgate, West Lothian, will drive a British-designed and built
Audi
S4 Quattro “Competition” in the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge
GT Championship.
Franchitti, the younger brother of recent CART race winner Dario, will
race the
150mph four-wheel-drive Audi alongside Champion Racing’s regular
drivers,
reigning World Challenge champion Michael Galati, an American who
currently leads
this year’s series, and five-times Le Mans 24 Hour race winner Derek
Bell.
He will pilot the No. 3 entry, driven in the two most recent races by
young American
Paul Edwards.
“I briefly drove the Audi at Sebring in March and the Champion team
suggested
they’d like me to race it,” said Franchitti. “I tested the S4 for
a second time at the Virginia International Raceway [in July]. The Audi
has masses
of power and the ‘normal’ road tires make it a real challenge to drive.
I was very happy afterwards because I was matching Galati’s times on my
first
visit to the Virginia track. I’m really looking forward to racing it.”
Franchitti will contest the final round of the series at Virginia on
October 25-27.
Marino, who won the Scottish Open Kart Championship in 1988 and the
Scottish Pro-Kart
title in ’93, is the reigning British GTO Champion and has spent this
year
racing in America in the American Le Mans Series.
The unique four-wheel-drive Audi is an amalgamation of the road-going
Audi S4
Quattro and Audi RS 4 Avant Quattro. The RS 4’s 2.7-litre, 30-valve V6
engine
is only mildly boosted, producing around 450bhp compared to the
road-going RS
4’s 380bhp. |
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