GRIDLIFE Championships To Be Decided at Pitt Race
Eric Kutil (left) and Matan Rosenberg (right) battle for the lead of a race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Wampum, PA - GRIDLIFE’s season finale is just ahead, October 17-19 at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. For the second year in a row, the last event of the season will be held at this picturesque track, but it will be the last time GRIDLIFE visits this facility, after news broke the land was sold and the track would not continue operating. It’s a send off of sorts to both the facility and to a competition season that will go down as one of the closest in GRIDLIFE history.
Kutil Faces an Uphill Battle to Rosenberg for Eibach GLTC Title
Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup has a big prize on the line this year - a trip to Eibach’s headquarters in Germany to celebrate their 75th anniversary - and a chance to drive at the famous Nuburgring Nordschleife. Both Matan Rosenberg and Eric Kutil have Eibach support, so it’s fitting that the championship has come down to both of them, completely different vehicles. Rosenberg’s #484 Falken Chevrolet Corvette has earned 9 wins, 24 podiums, and 29 top 10s across 32 race starts this season, leaving him with 330 points after the drop races have been calculated. Save for 12ths at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and Lime Rock Park, Rosenberg has been in the top 10 all year, but critically only earned one win while out west at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Had he experienced the dominance that he had there last year, his lead to Kutil might be insurmountable, but he maintains just an 8-point lead over Eric Kutil.
Matan Rosenberg’s Corvette in turn 1 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Eric Kutil’s #82 Hybrid Racing Honda Civic has had similar success this season, with two fewer events - 7 wins, 18 podiums, and 24 top tens - across 24 starts. His consistency is unmatched in series history, with an average finish of 2.3 and a worst finish of 5th - just twice - and in any other scenario, he might already be champion. The story for Kutil is his relative dominance at the club-style tracks this year, with both Carolina Motorsports Park and Autobahn Country Club treating him to three wins and a second each. Pittsburgh International Race Complex, like the aforementioned tracks and GingerMan Raceway, is an Alan Wilson design, something that seems to suit Kutil’s lightweight Civic. Kutil has a solid chance of defeating Rosenberg as both chase a second championship, but he must earn nine points to beat Matan. GRIDLIFE awards points for each race, and the races at the Pitt Race event can’t be dropped, so as long as Kutil accumulates more than Matan, he can win. The points structure is 25 points for first, 21 for second, 18 for third, 16 for fourth, and so on - so even the difference of 1st to 4th in one race is enough to turn the tide. Don’t miss this epic battle between two of GRIDLIFE’s best.
Eric Kutil’s Honda Civic sedan in the carousel at Mid-Ohio.
TrackBattle Class Champions to Be Decided in Podium Sprint
Though WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca featured a Podium Sprint as the finale in 2023, GRIDLIFE has yet to have a Podium Sprint event decide a title with all of the front runners present - that will change this weekend at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. The format is designed to put drivers on a stage to demonstrate their speed and accuracy on Sunday afternoon, with all prior sessions qualifying the top 5 from each class into the show. Once the Sprint starts, the track has just five cars at a time on track at once, from each class, in a three lap fight for trophies.
Though the Falken Club SC championship was mostly decided at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, both Mike Janssen and Sam Deuling will run again at Pitt Race for one last showdown. Janssen’s #156 Honda Civic completed seven events before the finale, winning four of them and claiming four track records along the way. Deuling completed eight, winning at Lime Rock Park and snagging a new track record there. Janssen has 103 points to Deuling’s 89, with Chris Rice trailing in third. It’ll be a victory lap for Janssen, but Deuling has one more chance to nab a trophy.
Falken Club TR features one of the closest championship battles in history. Last year, Evan McLaren and Peter Granberg fought for the championship at Pitt Race, with McLaren snagging the win by just 0.003. This year, they will both be chasing Mario Mirone, whose #727 Honda Civic leads with 94 points. Granberg has amassed 86, Stan Fayngold 84, McLaren 81, and Jerami Bailey has 80. Three drivers, Granberg, McLaren, and Mirone, are eligible to win, but it’s likely to be winner-take-all in the Podium Sprint. If Mirone wins, he controls his own destiny, but Peter Granberg can win it even without a record if Mirone is second, also without the track record. Evan McLaren could have lightning strike twice if he wins - a win and a record would guarantee him a victory. Stan Fayngold and Jerami Bailey have stolen wins throughout the year in Podium Sprint, and where they finish could play a factor into this thrilling finale.
Street class has similar stakes - Joshua Halka’s #777 Subaru Impreza leads Andy Holst’s #443 Mitsubishi Evo by 24 points - but that means a win for Holst uproots Halka’s lead. Halka’s season by many measures has been wildly successful, six events, four wins, but two of those wins came without track records, leaving him with 102 points, two shy of perfect. Holst, however, has only run three events, but all three have been wins and track records. Another win, worth 25 points, would earn him the title by one point, and a track record is just the cherry on top. Second won’t do it though - he needs to win this event to win the championship. It’s a classic Impreza vs Lancer fight on deck at Pitt Race. Willem Drees, the KDM Tuners driver from California in his #466 Hyundai Elantra N, sits second in points with 82, but isn’t registered - they’ll land on the podium regardless of what Halka or Holst do.
Joshua Halka throttles up in his Subaru Impreza.
Street GT, like Falken Club SC, is decided already, with Luke McGrew amassing 102 points in his #717 Chevrolet Corvette. It’s not mathematically possible for second place Ryan Mathews (93 points) or Nicholas Hendrix (89 points) to catch him, after McGrew earned four wins in four events, with two track records, but the battle for second is still to be determined by Pitt Race. Hendrix must win the event to defeat Mathews for second place in the Street GT points.
Street Mod was claimed at Autobahn Country Club by Dewey DeWitt, who locked in his second class championship with a dominant summertime run, competing in seven events and winning four of them. Critically, his four wins also included AWD class records, earning him 104 points, the maximum possible number in the current format. He also scored drivetrain records at two other events where he finished second. The win at GRIDLIFE Chicagoland secured his victory, but he’ll be present at Pitt Race regardless, potentially influencing the outcome of the battle for second. Ryan Mathews again sits second in this class, with Luca Barberis right behind in third. If Luca wins with a record, and Mathews is second, the tiebreaker should go to Barberis, but Luca has turned it on strong in the second half of the year, and like WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, doesn’t want to leave anything out on the racetrack.
Dewey DeWitt has already claimed the Street Mod championship for 2025, his second class championship.
The Track Mod championship was heating up heading into GRIDLIFE Laguna, where Jackie Ding had a distant, but possible, chance of sniping away the title from Allen Patten, who left one potential point up for grabs by virtue of the record-point rule, which states that a record must be broken (not just set) to earn the point. Because his win at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta was just setting a record, he had 103 points, not 104. Had Jackie won Laguna Seca and Pitt Race, he could have stolen the class championship from Patten, but Ding had an incident that ended his season at the famous Corkscrew, leaving Patten to win the title. All eyes now shift to third, where Chris Smith sits on the outside of the podium looking in at Justin Peachey. A good showing in the Podium Sprint for Smith could lead to him landing on the podium for the year, knocking Peachey off.
Unlimited’s Jim Rauck sits atop the standings in his crazy turbocharged Honda Civic with 95 points. He’s entered at Pitt Race, his closest rival, Ernestas Puzelis, is not. With Rauck lined up to jog across the finish line as class champion, eyes shift to third again in this class too, with both Andrius Bertulis (#171 Lexus RCF) and Jeremy Lowder (#525 Chevrolet Camaro) present to fight for third at Pitt Race.
Horpedahl, Hartman, Enter Three-Way Championship Hunt
In GRIDLIFE’s newest wheel-to-wheel series, GRIDLIFE GT, the championship will come down to the wire as well, with points leader James Houghton absent. This opens the door for Hans Horpedahl in his #77 Chevrolet Corvette, AJ Hartman in his #24 Ford Mustang, and Chris DeLucia in a BMW M3, to fight for the 100 points available at Pitt Race. Though DeLucia had an engine failure during Race 1 at Laguna Seca, he’s found another car for the season finale, to hopefully assist him in running down the Corvette and Mustang ahead. The classic Ford versus Chevrolet battle at the front of the field brings to mind the GT Le Mans class battles of 2016-2019 in the WEC and IMSA series, especially with Hartman’s Ford GT-sounding V6 twin-turbo motor under the hood of his AJ Hartman Aero Mustang. Hartman must earn 11 more points than Horpedahl to win the championship, but he’ll have four races to do just that this weekend.
Hans Horpedahl (silver Corvette) chases AJ Hartman (black Mustang) over the crest at Madness at Mid-Ohio.
GRIDLIFE RUSH Series Decided, Encore at Pitt Race
With Ryan Leach claiming the 2025 GRIDLIFE RUSH Series National Championship, a select number of drivers have elected to continue on past the points-earning rounds to race at Pittsburgh International Race Complex this weekend. Drivers like Jeremy Boysen, Jason Oehler, Nick and Kelsey Billingsley, Sam Reed, MAx Krause, and Jaylan Battley are on the entry list for this event. Though there are no points at play, the field will still be about 20 cars strong at Pitt Race.
GRIDLIFE Pitt Race will be livestreamed on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with Friday’s stream featuring GRIDLIFE TrackBattle Time Attack and qualifying for the wheel-to-wheel series, with Saturday and Sunday featuring all-day action on YouTube. Tickets are still available for spectators as well, with just one last chance to watch GRIDLIFE in the waning days of Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Don’t miss out on this action-packed event that will close out the season.
