Final SRO Tune-up Set in Thermal This Weekend for Rearden Racing; Burton, Novikov, Tallman & Terry to compete in SRO Winter Series

Final SRO Tune-up Set in Thermal This Weekend for Rearden Racing; Burton, Novikov, Tallman & Terry to compete in SRO Winter Series

Final SRO Tune-up Set in Thermal This Weekend for Rearden Racing; Burton, Novikov, Tallman & Terry to compete in SRO Winter Series

Tom Blattler
Rearden Racing
4 February 2020

● Rearden Racing Scored Four Class Victories in last month’s Thermal Winter Series races
● Dmitri Novikov returns to action after GT2 and GT4 wins in Audi and Aston Martin cars
● Jeff Burton (GT4) & Lara Tallman (TC) seek repeat wins this time at 2.9-mile road circuit

Dmitri at Thermal in GT2 Audi

Dmitri at Thermal in GT4 Aston

Jeff Burton Aston at Thermal in Jan 2020

Jeff Burton wins at Thermal 2019

Lara TC at Thermal 2019

Lara wins at Thermal

THERMAL, Calif. (Feb. 4, 2020) – Coming off four class victories last month at the Thermal Club, Rearden Racing brings a four-car assault to the state-of-the-art 2.91-mile, 17-turn desert road circuit this weekend (Feb. 7-9) in search of more wins in the SRO Winter Series finale.

Drivers Dmitri Novikov (GT2 and GT4), Jeff Burton (GT4) and Lara Tallman (TC) drove to victories in Rearden Racing machinery and the trio will be joined by Utah’s Paul Terry in the GT4 category this weekend in the doubleheader 40-minute races on Saturday and Sunday.

“We had a very good weekend last time at Thermal,” said Rearden Racing team owner Tallman. “Dmitri won in his new GT2 Audi R8 LMS as well as the new GT4 Aston Martin Vantage AMR as well as Jeff winning the other GT4 race in the new Aston Martin. I was able to get to the top step in our Nissan 370Z TC again last month. That little car is still quick, and it is for sale too now.

Plus, this weekend at Thermal we are adding Paul to our GT4 lineup with another Aston Martin, as those new GT4 cars have proven to be outstanding in the initial runs in Thermal. We are working hard to prepare for the SRO America GT4 series opener at COTA on March 6-8.”

The all-new No. 64 Audi R8 LMS GT2 car was the first Audi GT2 delivered to a customer in the U.S. when Rearden Racing fielded the vehicle for Novikov, the bronze-rated driver from Los Angeles. Tallman said the car was strong immediately with a pole position and first class win last month.

“We are excited to be the first team to receive the new Audi R8 LMS GT2,” she said. “The car will run in the SRO Winter Series GT Sports Club category this coming weekend again with Dmitri and we hope to continue the success from last month.”

Both Burton and Tallman have scored race wins in each of the first two SRO Winter Series weekend in December and January and look for a trifecta this weekend. Burton, the 2019 GT4 SprintX West Am series champion with Vesko Kozarov, has shown excellent speed in his new mount, the No. 91 Rearden Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR, with three wins in four Winter Series races. Tallman has two TC wins in the No. 3 Rearden Racing Nissan 370Z TC this winter.

In addition, Novikov also recorded impressive one minute, eleven-second victory in the No. 29 Rearden Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR sports car in the opening GT4 contest in January.

Terry, the TC race-winning driver, comes to Thermal for first time in the GT4 division with another all-new Rearden Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR car for the two 40-minute races.

“We are excited to have Paul back with us this coming weekend,” said Tallman. “We believe he can be fast in the Aston Martin. The car has been very good on the Thermal track so far this winter and we are anxious to get all of the cars ready for the COTA season opener.”

The Thermal Club SRO Winter Series action begins Friday (Feb. 7) at 9:05 a.m. PST with TC America practice followed by GT4 America practice scheduled for 10:25 a.m. PST. Forty-minute race events for round three of the SRO Winter Series are set for TC America Saturday at 1:45 p.m. and Sunday at 11:25 a.m. The two GT4 America contests are scheduled for Saturday at 3:10 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

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ABOUT REARDEN RACING: Owned and operated by Lara Tallman and driver Vesko Kozarov, Rearden Racing’s roots date back to the 2000s when Tallman drove in the IMSA ST class. The Utah-based operation consists of several aspects with design, build and service racing cars; offering “arrive and drive” programs in both professional and club racing clients and manufacture and distribute a variety of racing-related parts. On the track, Rearden Racing has been a winner, taking the 2019 Pirelli GT4 America SprintX West Am championship (Jeff Burton/Kosarov), 2018 Touring Car Championship (Kozarov) as well as the prestigious 2017 and 2018 SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge for the GT4 category at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The Rearden name comes from the popular Ayn Rand book, “Atlas Shrugged,” a novel about advocacy of reason, individualism, self-made, independent thinkers, inventors, business owners and risktakers.

Contact: Tom Blattler, TB Communications, tomblattler@earthlink.net, 317.525.5692