Burton Racing Lime Rock Post-Qualifying Report

Burton Racing returned to a two-car effort at Lime Rock Park on Friday with the No. 23 BMW Automotive Chemicals/303 Products/Gold Eagle BMW 128i driven by Mike LaMarra and Terry Borcheller, and the new No. 21 Trim-Tex Drywall Products BMW 128i driven by Bill Auberlen and John Edwards. The two cars will start from the fourth and 11th rows of the grid in the Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday (10:00 AM, LIVE on IMSA.com).

The IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge saw limited track time on Friday with just 1 hour and 30 minutes of practice ahead of the 15-minute qualifying session.

Burton Racing worked through three quick practice sessions to improve the cars throughout the day.

Auberlen put his years of BMW experience to good use in the qualifying run and wheeled the No. 21 Trim-Tex BMW to an eighth place starting position.

“I really enjoy being back with Burton Racing,” said Auberlen. “It's a great group of guys and now I'm teamed up with John (Edwards) and so it's really nice in that respect. It's a really nice environment. We just have to get a handle on the cars a little better. I think we're making little gains. In qualifying we took a slight step backwards, but that's because of the lack of testing. The guys will look at the data and come up with some ideas for tomorrow and we can try to move forward. Lime Rock is a tricky place. It is so tight and so small, people get desperate. You're doing laps so quickly, under a minute, one after the other. You're racing with the GS class among the ST class. The people who race smart will stay at the front and will win.”

LaMarra, who ran his quickest lap times of the weekend during the qualifying run, showed great progress and will start 22nd in Saturday’s 2-hour sprint race before handing the car over to Borcheller.

“I think we're going to have a good race car,” said LaMarra. “We’re making progress and I actually felt pretty good in the car. I was just slow on time. For the laps I had, it's actually my fastest time, so I'm not dissatisfied with that. I wish we were a little bit higher, but I'm happy. I wanted a little better showing for the 303 Products and STA-BIl debut, but I think we're going to continuously improve and have a good race car.”

While the GS and ST classes have previously run separately at Lime Rock Park due to the track’s short length, the two will race together on Saturday.

“We're used to driving with each other, but this track is like a little bullring,” added LaMarra. “I think we’ll have to be a little more heads up in our mirrors than we normally would here. I think it adds something to it because you're trying to chase the guy in front and they pass them in an inopportune spot and you get to make up some ground. However, they could pass you in an inopportune spot and the folks behind you get to make up some ground. It certainly makes it more interesting for both the fans and the drivers.”

As Burton Racing returned to a two-car effort, the team has enjoyed being able to share data across two cars.

“It's fun to have two more folks to download data with,” offered LaMarra.  “What's their car doing, what's our car doing? What did they try? What did we try? I think it increases the progress especially when you have such little time on the track. So that's good. Bill (Auberlen) and John (Edwards) are really good guys and fun to be with. We have Victor (Leleu) from BMW North America with us as well so that's been fun.”

The 41-car combined class field is set to take the green at the 1.5-mile Connecticut road course Saturday at 10:00 AM ET with live coverage streamed on IMSA.com.