CTSC: Auberlen, Edwards to co-drive for first time at Lime Rock

Burton Racing will double its chances in Saturday’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race at Lime Rock Park, fielding the No. 21 Trim-Tex Drywall Products BMW 328i in the Street Tuner (ST) class for TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class race-winning drivers Bill Auberlen and John Edwards.

The two-hour race will mark the first time that the BMW factory drivers have co-driven in competition.

“The guys were available, and everything fell in place,” team owner Keith Burton said. “The car is fully updated and completely fresh with new everything. We should be OK. It would sure be nice to have a good weekend.”

Burton Racing is also coming off its best finish of the season with the No. 23 BMW Automotive Chemicals/Gold Eagle/303 BMW 128i, with 2013 ST champs Mike LaMarra and Terry Borcheller finishing fourth at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“I am really excited for a lot of reasons,” Auberlen said.  I get to race in ST, I get to come back to Lime Rock where I have had a ton of success in the past, and  I get to race with Burton Racing again which is a terrific team. Also I get to be teamed up with John Edwards which will be a first and something I am really looking forward to.  Now all we need is a little luck and hopefully we can stand on the top step of the podium – and BMW is no stranger to winning at Lime Rock.”

Auberlen is a two-time Continental Tire Challenge winner at Lime Rock – among his 15 career victories in the series – and also has one Grand-Am Rolex Series victory and two American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón podiums at the circuit.

Edwards raced four times in Grand Sport for Stevenson Motorsports, taking second in 2013 in addition to four fourth-place finishes. He also won Rolex Series GT races at the circuit in 2012 with Stevenson Motorsports and in 2010 with SpeedSource, and was ALMS GT winner in 2013 for BMW Team RLL.

“I’m excited to be back with Trim-Tex and I hope that we can reclaim some of the success we had in our championship winning season with Trim-Tex last year,” Edwards said. “Bill and I are used to working together on the factory program, but we’ve never been co-drivers before so I think it will be cool for us to team up. Trim-Tex and Burton have put a lot of effort into revamping this car and I expect that we’ll be competing for the win, especially since we don’t have championship points to worry about. I had both my first Rolex GT and first ALMS GT wins at Lime Rock, so maybe this weekend Lime Rock will be the site of my first ST win."