SONOMA, Calif. – The experienced Rearden Racing team has plenty of success at the legendary Sonoma Raceway and the Utah-based motorsports organization plans to continue climbing to the top of the track’s winner’s circle podium this weekend (Aug. 7-9) when the Pirelli GT4 America road racing series returns for the SRO America rounds.
Rearden Racing has been scoring series championships and race victories on a consistent basis for the past decade and the racing operation has already collected winner’s trophies this year despite the four-month layoff due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.
The combination of Kris Wilson and John Allen, both of Denver, took the Rearden Racing-prepared #16 Mercedes-AMG GT4 sports car to double GT4 SprintX Am division wins last month at VIRginia International Raceway and the Colorado-based are primed to do the same in the GT4 SprintX tripleheader at Sonoma Raceway which starts this Friday at 4:30 p.m. PDT.
The other two GT4 SprintX features will compete Saturday at 3:45 p.m. PDT and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. PDT.
Looking at Rearden Racing’s success at Sonoma Raceway and one must focus on the duo of Jeff Burton and Vesko Kozarov who took both Sonoma GT4 SprintX Am West main events and totaled 11 SprintX victories in 2019. Those triumphs led to the pair’s GT4 SprintX Am West series title.
This year, the Burton/Kozarov combo has switched to the Pro-Am class as well as to the new #91 Burton Lumber/Rearden Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 machine. A few teething issues hurt their performances early in the SRO America season, but the Utah drivers expect to return to their Sonoma Raceway success starting this Friday in the GT4 SprintX tripleheader.
“We had a very good weekend at VIR with Kris and John in the Mercedes-AMG and we are hoping for another strong run at Sonoma,” said Lara Tallman, Rearden Racing team owner. “We are still learning with the new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 sports cars. The COVID-19 layoff did hurt us a bit with fine tuning the new cars. But we are getting closer to contention each race and we hope to continue the Rearden success at Sonoma Raceway with Jeff and Vesko again.”
In the GT4 Sprint Am category, Paul Terry was sensational in the season-opening weekend at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in March with a victory, a second and pole position in the #59 Terry Trucking/Rearden Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 car. The Utah racer moved from the Touring Car class, where he was very successful, to the GT4 Sprint class in 2020. And he started off quickly with podium finishes and looks to continue that trend this weekend at Sonoma Raceway when Friday’s GT4 Sprint race begins at 1:05 p.m. PDT.
Burton, who took second and fourth in last year’s GT4 Sprint Am division at Sonoma, also will pilot the #191 Burton Lumber/Rearden Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 sports car in the GT4 Sprint Am competition for Rearden Racing.
“Paul and Jeff are looking to add some more hardware to their trophy cases at Sonoma,” said Tallman. “Our hard work with the new Aston Martin Vantage cars is expected to pay off in the 50-minute sprint races. We just need some solid, clean racing to get to the front of the field.”
Saturday’s GT4 Sprint Am feature gets underway at 9:25 a.m. PDT with Sunday’s 50-minute sprint race starting at 3:15 p.m. PDT.
All six Pirelli GT4 America Sprint and SprintX races can be viewed live at YouTube.com/GTWorld as well as at www.gt4-america.com.