Ryan Leach Conquers GRIDLIFE RUSH Series
The GRIDLIFE RUSH Series added spec racing to the GRIDLIFE catalogue, exciting drivers and fans alike with close, intense racing - and it attracted talent from all over the country in 2025. While the second half of the season featured fantastic battles between Ryan Leach, Blair hosie, Andy Voelkel, James French, and more, Leach’s season start was the catalyst to his 2025 championship.
The season began at Carolina Motorsports Park in April, where a rainshower washed the rubber off of the track right before the first race of the year. Andy Voelkel, a driver who had previously won the GRIDLIFE TrackBattle Street GT Championship, started on pole ahead of Leach. Towards the end of the race, Ryan Leach took the lead, leaving Voelkel to chase him down as the track dried out. Voelkel was unable to catch Leach, in that race, or the next three, and Leach scored nearly perfect points with four wins and 2nd in qualifying.
Leach continued his dominance at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, where the majority of the weekend was wet and rainy. A late restart in race four allowed Leach to snag the lead, winning all four races again over Andy Voelkel and Ethan Alexander. At GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival, things shook up as Blair Hosie entered the fray in his #8 RUSH SR, battling Leach head to head for most of the weekend. Leach came out on top by just a few car lengths in each race, winning all four, with his perfect record continuing to 12 straight race wins.
The next calendar stop took the field to Road America, where the RUSH Series field was 45 cars deep. Leach led much of the first race, but finally lost to James French, a Wisconsinite racing driver with years of prototype experience. Races two and three were disasters for Leach relative to his season start, finishing 37th and 41st after a collision and spin in turn 5. In the last race of the weekend, he drove back to third, finishing just behind Blair Hosie and James French, who stole the win by just 0.006 seconds, the closest race finish in GRIDLIFE history.
The French, Leach, Voelkel, and Hosie show stopped next on the east coast, at GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends at Lime Rock Park. There, Leach scored two seconds, and two wins, while Hosie picked up two wins and two seconds. Voelkel and French traded third and fourth the same way. While Leach’s lead was now nearly insurmountable for the title, he traveled out to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where he scored first and ninth before retiring for the weekend. He ended the season with 443 points, beating Blair Hosie and Andy Voelkel, scoring 15 wins and 19 podiums in 22 starts and sporting an average finish of 5.0 despite the results at Road America.
Ryan Leach’s dominance in the GRIDLIFE RUSH Series was even more dominant by win percentage (62.5%) than Tom O’Gorman’s 2022 Eibach GLTC championship (50%) leaving many drivers going back to the drawing board to figure out how to take down a driver and team that was remarkably consistent, fast, and rebounded quickly from adversity.
