Burton Racing Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Post-Race Report

Bowmanville, Ontario (11 July 2015) - Despite being spun off track early in the event, Burton Racing took its best finish of the 2015 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season on Saturday with a run to fourth place in the Canadian Tire 150.

Drivers Mike LaMarra and Terry Borcheller combined to bring the No. 23 BMW Automotive Chemicals/Excelda/Gold Eagle BMW 128i  home with the first top-five finish of the season after the duo both posted strong race stints.LaMarra, who had impressed with his pace in qualifying only to see his fastest lap stymied by traffic, started the race from the seventh row of the ST class grid and held station in 14th through the opening 16 laps of green flag running. With a pair of caution periods (lap 17 and then again on lap 23) slowing the action, LaMarra made the most of a well-balanced car to race up into the top-10.Unfortunately the yellow set the stage for some close quarters racing that cost the effort after LaMarra was spun off track when another car clipped a curb and sent him spinning. Keeping his eyes down the track, LaMarra was able to quickly rejoin, but the stacked field meant that he had lost several spots as well as track position. “The Mini and another car were off track in Turn 8 so we went by them,” said LaMarra. “He came back on track behind us and was a little impatient and tried to get by me in Turn 5B. He spun me around and I had to watch the rest of the field go by. It didn’t hurt the car at all – the handling and dynamics were still the same. It worked out well, it was just frustrating that we fell so far back.”Undeterred, he continued to move back up the order before turning the car over to Borcheller on lap 41.Borcheller’s winning history at the track north of the border stretches back several seasons, and he was in fine form once again on Saturday. After taking over the controls, he made steady progress up the timing sheets, relentlessly reeling in those ahead.That forward progress continued all the way up to the last lap, as he was able to advance one final spot to secure fourth at the checkered flag on the final tour of the high-speed 2.459-mile circuit and lock in the best result of the season.“I’m very happy with the finish,” said team manager Keith Burton. “I think we may have had a little bit more than that. We have to go back and analyze the pit stop because I think we lost some time there so we’ll go back and review that. And of course Mike (LaMarra) got spun and lost there so all things considered, we’ll take it. We’re very pleased with the result today.”“The car was really good,” added LaMarra. “It stayed very neutral so when other’s tires were going off, ours were still the same. So we were putting down some really nice lap times. I got a few positions on the start and through the stint and just kind of tucked in behind the 56 car for a while.  But then luckily we got a caution right when we needed it when we were going to pit anyway. Terry (Borcheller) got in and drove great in order to really make up the positions that we had lost.”The Indianapolis-based organization will look to continue to build on the positive momentum in two weeks’ time when the series stages Round 6 of the 2015 championship at Lime Rock Park, the site of the team’s championship triumph in 2013.FOX Sports 1 will televise the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park event at 12:00 PM ET on Sunday, July 19.