Burton Racing Circuit of The Americas Post-Race Report

Although the penultimate round of IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge competition presented the Burton Racing drivers with a bevy of challenging track conditions thanks to the indecisive Austin, Texas weather, both Burton Racing teams delivered solid results with Connor Bloum snagging a season-high fourth place finish.

Bloum combined with Jeff Westphal in the No. 22 Gold Eagle BMW 128i  to bring home a well-deserved fourth place finish while Mike LaMarra and Terry Borcheller scored a 13th place finish in their shared No. 23 BMW Automotive Chemicals/Excelda BMW 128i in the Lone Star Le Mans event held at the fabled Circuit of The Americas. 

The race started off a bit chaotically for both LaMarra and Westphal. LaMarra made the most of the drop of the green flag to jump up a few positions, but was ultimately caught out by another car and spun in Turn 8 on the very first lap. Fortunately, he was able to quickly rejoin the pack a few spots back when the first caution flag was displayed at the tail end of the first lap. 

Similarly, Westphal lost a few spots on the first lap, but when the field returned to green flag racing close to half an hour into the 2.5-hour race, both drivers put their heads down and set to work. As both LaMarra and Westphal settled into their BMW machines, they consistently worked their way up the field. As the first sprinkles of rain began to fall on pit lane just before the one-hour mark of the race, Westphal was consistently running lap times on par with the class leaders and LaMarra worked his way all the way up from 27th to 14th.

While the rain continued to fall, LaMarra pitted one hour and 10 minutes into the race to get four fresh tires and fuel and to hand the car over to Borcheller. A short 10 minutes later, Westphal also pitted for a routine stop after working all the way up to third position and ceded the controls to Bloum. Excellent pit stops by the crew on both cars saw them rejoin the pack in good position and gave both finishing drivers the opportunity to fight to the finish.

Bloum took to the wet track like a fish to water and effortlessly worked his way from eighth to fifth in short order. He then slid into fourth position with under 10 minutes remaining in the race and was challenging for a spot on the podium when the checkered flag fell.

On a track that was at different points throughout the race sprinkling on pit lane and completely dry in the middle turns of the track, Borcheller also battled the tricky conditions. With just over 20 minutes left to race, Borcheller was consistently putting down lap times a full second faster than the cars ahead of him. He expertly picked off positions ahead of him as the final hour of the race passed and the sky cleared of rain, but in the end was forced to settle for a 13th place finish. 

“The No. 75 car is one of the best cars in the series in the rain, the No. 56 car is really good, and the MX-5s are always strong here,” said Team Manager, Keith Burton after the race. “I truly felt confident in Connor’s (Bloum) rain skills, he is one of the best drivers in the series for his car handling and control abilities. So I was totally confident when we put Connor in the car and Jeff Westphal did an amazing job preserving the car and delivering the car to Connor in the top-five. He was a great coach and opening driver and Connor did everything perfectly from there, he just chipped his way up through the few cars in front of him. We closed almost 30-seconds to the top three cars so that was really awesome. We had no issues with the fuel or car or anything, the guys did a great job getting everything ready. And they also did great today as the No. 23 crew guys serviced both cars today and did an amazing job on both stops back to back. The No. 23 car did not have quite have the day we had hoped for, but we were ultimately the top BMW finisher in points so that in itself is a little championship, so that is very nice. Now we are ready to finish the season off strong in Atlanta!”

Burton Racing will look to finish their season on a high note in just a short two weeks’ time at Road Atlanta on October 3. 

Burton Racing Driver Quoteboard:
Jeff Westphal – “My stint started off not in the best way. A couple of cars around me jumped the start and shuffled us back. We knew we could get the spots back but it is just frustrating when you go down a few spots on the very first lap. But the car felt good, the balance was great and the BMW machines are really fun to race, it is a super fun car to drive. It was a pleasure, honestly to get to drive with Burton Racing. I just put my head down and I knew that the front-wheel drive cars would come back to us. So I was really just focused on putting my head down, clicking off the laps and handing the car over to Connor (Bloum) cleanly.”

Connor Bloum – “It felt really good out there today. I was having a ton of fun racing today. I was kind of letting other cars come to me and it was an awesome race. The mixed conditions were kind of tricky, but honestly I really enjoy racing in the rain and I knew the guys had given me a good car, so I was able to race and have fun. I almost had third there, if I could have had a few more laps I really think I could have made the podium, I was right there. The car felt amazing, all of the guys here at Burton Racing do a great job and a big thanks to Keith (Burton) as well.”

Mike LaMarra – “I had a great start! I took the outside line and I must have passed five or six, maybe even more, cars. So that was fantastic. But then when I got into Turn 8 the car in front of me jammed his brakes on the exit. So I had two choices; either run into him or hit the brakes. So I hit the brakes and lost all traction and spun out. It was more or less a harmless spin except for the fact that I couldn’t re-enter the track without letting everyone else go by. Then after that it was fine. I had a great opportunity to come in and get a little more fuel and catch up and pass as many cars as possible which was fun. A big thanks to the guys for doing an awesome job on the pit stop.”

Terry Borcheller – “It was a difficult race from the start. We went a lap down and then we only had one yellow, which was pretty crazy. But looking forward to the next race at Road Atlanta, we will be ready. It would be really nice to go back there and win, so we are going to keep our heads up, keep working hard and go win at Road Atlanta.”