SEBRING, Fla. – Utah’s Jeff Burton comes to the historic Sebring International Raceway this weekend (Oct. 1-3) in search of another GT America sports car victory with his sleek Burton Lumber/Rearden Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 machine in the SRO America doubleheader road racing weekend.
The businessman/racer from Salt Lake City captured his first overall race win two weeks ago at another famed road circuit, Watkins Glen International in New York, with a sensational performance at the 3.4-mile racing facility. The victory was also Burton’s third of the 2021 season in the SRO Masters’ class.
Now, Burton makes his first appearance at the legendary Sebring circuit which first introduced professional road racing to the airport track in 1950. Now, 71 years later, the Florida racing plant brings some of the fastest GT sports cars to the unique 3.74-mile, 17-turn course.
Renowned for its rough track surface, the Rearden Racing team will be working hard to get the proper settings on the No. 191 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 car for Burton in the two GT America 40-minute sprint races set for this Saturday and Sunday.
“This will be my first time racing at Sebring,” said Burton. “In my first time being on the track last week, I spent two days of testing at Sebring. Wow, it’s really, really bouncy. Bumps everywhere. The challenge for us at Sebring will be the cars’ ability to handle the bounciness of the track.”
Burton admits he learned quite a bit in his first runs at the Sebring circuit and he’ll have to adjust some his driving lines this weekend.
“It’s almost like being on a wet track and you go offline to find the grip level,” he said. “At Sebring, you almost need to go off the racing line to get away from the bounce in the car. It’s so much different that other tracks. I know the team is working hard to get the proper car setup. But I’m anxious to race on a legendary track like Sebring.”
Burton currently ranks second in the SRO GT America GT3 class point standings as well as second in the Masters’ division entering the Sebring doubleheader. Those races are scheduled for Saturday (Oct. 2) at 4:05 p.m. EDT and Sunday (Oct. 3) at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
Rearden Racing team owner Lara Tallman has her team working on a variety of equipment and chassis adjustments for the Sebring weekend.
“We learned a lot from our Sebring test,” said Tallman. “The track is new to Jeff and Vesko (Kosarov, Burton’s co-driver in the GT World Challenge America races) is working with him on the racing lines. Sebring is so different than other track with the racing surface. We are hoping to return to victory lane again this weekend after Jeff’s great win at Watkins Glen.”
Burton and Kozarov will compete in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America two-driver competition on Saturday (1:15 p.m. EDT) and Sunday (1:15 p.m. EDT) in the No. 91 Burton Lumber/Rearden Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 machine. They have scored fourth and fifth in 2021 ProAm action this year.
The Fanatec GT World Challenge America event will be televised on Sunday, Oct. 3, at 6 p.m. EDT on the CBS Sports Network.