Mitsubishi Evo, Holst Prevail in Classic AWD Street Class Brawl

The age-old fight for all-wheel-drive supremacy played out once again in GRIDLIFE Street class in 2025, where Joshua Halka and Andy Holst campaigned their vehicles for the championship. Holst, in his Mitsubishi Evo, came out on top at the season finale at Pitt Race over Halka’s Subaru WRX, but by a slim two-point margin. Holst scored 104 points, the maximum amount possible in GRIDLIFE TrackBattle Time Attack competition, one of three competitors to do so this year.

Holst’s season didn’t start until GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival in June, already at a 52-point deficit to Halka, who won at Carolina Motorsports Park and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, scoring records at both. This meant that after just two events, Halka was 50% of the way to a max-point season, and Holst hadn’t even started. At GingerMan Raceway, Andy Holst reset the track record for the class at a blistering 1:34.859, a full second faster than Halka’s time, but things were much closer in the Podium Sprint. In the three-lap battle, Halka set his fastest time of the weekend, a 1:34.884, and Holst managed just a 1:35.730 - faster, but a slim margin of victory. 

When the duo descended on Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course at the end of June, the return to the traditional time attack format allowed Holst to score another win, this time by 1.1 seconds over Halka’s WRX. His 1:31.187 was also a new track record, leaving him tied with Halka for wins, but critically in the case of a tiebreaker, also had beaten Halka twice. 

While both the front runners skipped Summer Apex at Road America, Joshua Halka returned to competition at Lime Rock Park, winning over Eddy Segal’s #470 Honda Civic Type R. This win came without the crucial track record point, points that would ultimately decide the championship at season’s end. Holst destroyed the field at Autobahn Country Club, winning by nearly three seconds in the Podium Sprint, and setting a new track record of 1:29.117. This victory set up Holst with a chance to win the entire season, should Halka fail to break the track record and win at Laguna Seca and at Pitt Race.

Halka sent his Subaru out west to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on both offense and defence, ultimately winning the event over Willem Drees in a Hyundai Elantra N, but didn’t pick up the track record point. This meant even with four wins, those elusive track records at Lime Rock Park and Laguna Seca left a two-point gap for Holst to steal the season title, so the battle would come down to the season finale at Pitt Race.

Early in the weekend, Joshua Halka struggled with mechanical issues, only managing a 1:55.681. Holst struck early, a 1:51.127, smashing the track record and seeding him first in the Podium Sprint. When the rains came at the end of the weekend, Holst defeated Eddy Segal and Bucky Lasek in the Podium Sprint in the wet, winning by four seconds. Halka’s Subaru sat in paddock with more mechanical gremlins.

Despite a disappointing end of the season for Halka, both drivers scored phenomenal stats through the year, with Holst performing the minimum number of events and scoring the maximum points possible, and Halka winning four events and finishing second in two more. At least this time, it’s the Evo that comes out on top.