Kozarov/Burton Combo Scores GT4 West SprintX Rd.3 Win Friday at Laguna Seca for Rearden Racing in Pirelli GT4 America

Kozarov/Burton Combo Scores GT4 West SprintX Rd.3 Win Friday at Laguna Seca for Rearden Racing in Pirelli GT4 America

The Rearden Racing pair of Vesko Kosarov and Jeff Burton returned to victory lane Friday in the Pirelli GT4 America West SprintX Am division in the doubleheader races at the historic WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca road circuit as part of the SRO IGTC California 8 Hours weekend.

The Salt Lake City, Utah duo drove the No. 91 Burton Lumber/Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 sports car to 13.527-second win in the Am class over the team of Bob Michaelian and Mark Pavin in the No. 54 Racers’ Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4 in recording the pair’s second 2019 GT4 America SprintX Am victory. Kosarov and Burton also captured the GT4 West Am Round 1 at Circuit of the America (COTA) on March 2.

In the Round 4 GT4 West SprintX Am event Friday afternoon at the famed 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course, Kosarov made a dramatic come-from-behind charge from over 45 seconds back to challenge for the class win before settling for second place, just 1.77 seconds from the winning team of Kevin Woods and Chris Bellomo.

“It was great to capture the GT4 Am class win in the first race of the day Friday,” said Lara Tallman, Rearden Racing team owner. “Jeff and Vesko drove very well to bring home the victory in the Audi R8 LMS. We had some misfortune in the second race at COTA and this win helped pump up the team. Vesko was spectacular in the second race today and he almost pulled off a second win for the weekend. He fought hard to the finish and just missed another victory.”

In addition to the Round 3 GT SprintX Am division triumph Friday, Kosarov also recorded the fastest race lap with a time of one minute, 33.064 seconds for an average speed of 86.57 m.p.h. Vesko’s time was the quickest of the entire Pirelli GT4 America West SprintX field, Pro-Am and Am divisions.

With two Am class victories and one second place after two race GT4 West, Kosarov and Burton will look to close in on the Am series point leaders in the next GT4 West Sprint series weekend set for June 7-9 at Sonoma Raceway.

“It’s always a good weekend when you get on the podium in both events and the equipment is a good shape,” said Tallman. “We have another race weekend now in Utah on Saturday and Sunday with NASA Amateur competition at our home track, Utah Motorsports Campus. So, we’ll be busy through this weekend. It’s busy and fun for us and that is why we love racing.”

Rearden Racing will field two race cars for Utah-based drivers for the track’s 2019 opening event with the NASA Utah Regional action on the UMC Outer Course (3.048-mile, 14-turn road course).

Last weekend at The Thermal Club in Southern California, Rearden Racing was back on the top of the podium with team driver Dmitri Novikov recording two Silver class victories in the Porsche Trophy Cup West USA competition.

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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