Burton/Kozarov Duo Scores Double Victories in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Am Class for Rearden Racing with Audi R8 LMS at VIR
● In Sunday’s 60-minute SprintX Event, Rearden Team Takes Impressive 3rd Overall Finish
Driving the No. 91 Burton Lumber/Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS sports car, Burton and Kozarov recorded GT4 SprintX Am class victories each day at the 3.27-mile, 17-turn road circuit to total four GT4 SprintX Am class wins so far in the 2019 GT4 Sprint series.
With wins at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in the GT4 SprintX West Am division, the two Salt Lake City, Utah racers came to the high-speed VIR track going against a stellar Am field.
On Saturday, Burton and Kozarov won the Am category over former series champions GMG Racing and highly-competitive NOLASPORT team in a solid 60-minute performance that scored seventh overall in the 22-driver Gt4 SprintX field.
The Rearden Racing team returned on Sunday for the second of the weekend’s one-hour contests and started 12th in the grid. Burton started the race and moved into the top-ten by lap 14 when he handed the driving chores over to the veteran Kozarov, who put on a sensational charge through professional and amateur drivers in the GT4 lineup.
Kozarov had a chance to battle for the overall win late in Sunday’s event before a full-course caution period ended the 60-minute race. But at the checkered flag, Vesko piloted the No. 91 Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS sports car to third overall and notched the team’s second Am class win of the weekend at VIR. Rearden Racing defeated the Auto Technic Racing and NOLASPORT Am teams Sunday.
With four division wins in six events so far this season, the Burton/Kozarov combination has proven to be a force in the Am class moving into the middle portion of the 2019 Pirelli GT4 America campaign.
Burton also served double duty with the No. 91 machine by racing in the GT4 Sprint division as well. Jeff raced in four main events (two in SprintX and two in Sprint) in the VIR weekend and recorded ninth and tenth place Sprint race finishes in first Sprint action in 2019.
Joining Burton in Rearden Racing’s Sprint competition at VIR was young GT4 America newcomer Dmitri Novikov who drove the No. 80 Rearden Racing BMW M4 GT4 sports car to 12th in his GT4 debut event.
In addition, Paul Terry battled in the Touring Car class at VIR this weekend with the No. 33 Rearden Racing Nissan 370X TC car and, despite some misfortune, the Utah driver clocked the fast race lap in Saturday’s 40-minute TC feature.
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ABOUT REARDEN RACING: Owned and operated by Lara Tallman and driver Vesko Kozarov, Rearden Racing’s roots date back to the 2000s when Tallman drove in the IMSA ST class. The Utah-based operation consists of several aspects with design, build and service racing cars; offering “arrive and drive” programs in both professional and club racing clients and manufacture and distribute a variety of racing-related parts. On the track, Rearden Racing has been a winner, taking the 2018 Touring Car Championship with Kozarov as well as the prestigious 2017 and 2018 SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge for the GT4 category at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The Rearden name comes from the popular Ayn Rand book, “Atlas Shrugged,” a novel about advocacy of reason, individualism, self-made, independent thinkers, inventors, business owners and risktakers.
Contact: Tom Blattler, TB Communications, tomblattler@earthlink.net, 317.525.5692
