GRIDLIFE Summer Apex Sees Tightening of RUSH, TrackBattle Championships
Elkhart Lake, WI - GRIDLIFE’s second full-force festival at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, saw a dozen records fall in TrackBattle Time Attack, a major shake up in momentum in the RUSH Series championship, thrilling Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup races, and a great comeback story in GRIDLIFE GT. Road America is rough on cars, with long straights, tight confines in some track sections, and aggressive curbs, creating some attrition throughout the weekend.
Newcomer Collin King Snags First GLGT Wins
The GRIDLIFE GT championship grew by a few cars at Road America - with two new entrants joining the fray of the new wheel-to-wheel series. Alex Peitz, in his #61 Chevrolet Corvette C8 made his GRIDLIFE GT debut, alongside the Viking Performance sponsored C5 Corvette of Collin King. After his initial successes in the new class at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Aaron Leichty fired off strong with a pole and two wins in his Paragon Performance Corvette, but with a tight schedule on Sunday and the desire to run the car with a different tune in Eibach GLTC, Leichty didn’t enter the final two races of the weekend. This opened the door for Collin King, who placed third and second in the first two races, to win both races on Sunday.
Collin King leads Charles-Andre Bilodeau, David Calzada, Jordan Wiseley, Hans Horpedahl, and Alex Peitz through turn 13 at Road America.
King was pursued by Charles-Andre Bilodeau in a BMW M4 GT4 in race 3, and Jordan Wisely in race 4. Wiseley’s weekend wasn’t without challenges; contact with Hans Horpedahl in turn 3 on a race start forced his team to get creative in repairing the suspension on his Hyundai Veloster N. Unable to find suitable replacement parts, the KDM Tuners team found components at a nearby Tractor Supply and repaired Wiseley’s car to working condition, enough for a second-place finish in race 4. King, Wiseley, and Peitz earned podiums for the weekend, with Charles-Andre Bilodeau, Aaron Leichty, Hans Horpedahl, and David Calzada rounding out the finishers. James Forbis’s Corvette suffered a mechanical failure early in the weekend and missed out on the races at Road America.
Emile Tabb Takes “Little Miata That Could” to Podium at Road America
Eibach GLTC featured a 40-car grid at Road America, including championship front runners Matan Rosenberg, Eric Magnussen, and Matt Waldbaum. Aaron Leichty returned to Eibach GLTC competition in his newly prepped C8 Corvette. Emile Tabb returned after a strong debut of a new car at Mid-Ohio - a Winning Formula built NB-generation Mazda MX-5 with a Honda K24 engine. While the car was successful in its first race, winning race 1 at Mid-Ohio, Tabb elected to run a higher power, higher weight configuration at Road America. The car and driver combination scored four top fives - 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, landing Tabb on the podium right on the heels of the LS-powered M3 of Eric Magnussen and the Corvette of Matan Rosenberg, who won the weekend with three wins and a fourth.
Other notable performances included Louis Chatroop, whose K-Power M3 scored a 9th and a fifth in the first two races of the weekend, Salil Shukla, who snagged P6 in the weekend points, and Daniel Giraldo, earning 9th on the weekend in his Lexus IS250.
Matt Waldbaum and Emile Tabb lead Aaron Leichty and Matan Rosenberg through turn 6 in a battle for the lead in Eibach GLTC.
Every TrackBattle Class Record Falls at Summer Apex
GRIDLIFE TrackBattle Time Attack saw every single overall class record fall over the weekend, despite high air and track temperatures testing car and driver. Though Podium Sprint offered up some reshuffling of the deck further down on the podium, Unlimited was the only class where a record holder did not win the weekend. In Falken Club SC, Mike Janssen scored the win and a new record of 2:53.331, extending his championship lead over Chris Rice to 15 points. Mario Mirone and Peter Granberg reset Falken Club TR records in the FWD and RWD subcategories, respectively. Mirone ran a 2:29.669, Granberg a 2:30.000, but Granberg pulled through in the Podium Sprint over Stan Fayngold by just 0.063 seconds, followed by Mirone. Mirone’s third place makes him vulnerable to Jerami Bailey and Peter Granberg in the championship, with a one point advantage over Bailey and four to Granberg.
Peter Granberg reset the Falken Club TR RWD record and won the weekend in his #511 Subaru BRZ.
Street class also saw two records fall with Brad Moore and Aaron Rekkedahl snagging RWD and FWD records with a 2:25.913 and 2:28.590. Moore’s Porsche 718 Cayman propelled him to victory during the Podium Sprint over Mike Coons’ Subaru STi and Rekkedahl’s Honda Civic Type R. Championship competitor Willem Drees had an incident in the kink in his Hyundai Elantra N, but had a good enough time to score fourth in the weekend in Street class.
In Street GT, Luke McGrew extended his championship lead to a nearly insurmountable value - totalling 102 points, just two away from a perfect season. Ryan Mathews would need to win and earn track records at three events to defeat McGrew this year, with his current points count at 86. Mark Kilgore sits third in the standings after a P3 on the weekend in his BMW M4. Nicholas Hendrix scored second in the Podium Sprint between Kilgore and McGrew.
Though Ryan Mathews missed out on the podium in Street GT, he did earn third in Street Mod, right behind Luca Barberis in his Toyota GR Supra and Dewey DeWitt in Boogeyman, his Subaru Impreza L. Dewey and Barberis scored new drivetrain records, 2:15.791 for Dewey in AWD and 2:16.707 in RWD for Barberis. Kal Fortner just missed the podium by 1.1 seconds in his Mercedes-AMG GT-S, and Jaime Santos rounded out the top 5 in class.
Dewey DeWitt extended his championship lead in Street Mod, resetting the track record in Boogeyman, his #70 Subaru Impreza L.
Track Mod saw the record fall multiple times during the weekend, all by driver Allen Patten in his #304 Chevrolet Corvette. Patten has dominated Track Mod this year, and continued with a 2:08.669 in Podium Sprint, the third fastest time of any car during the weekend. Patten defeated Jackie Ding’s #687 BMW M2 and Justin Peachey’s Chevrolet Corvette in Podium Sprint, and has effectively locked up the Track Mod championship. He’s won four events and claimed records at each, earning 103 points - 1 short of max. Because Track Mod rules have changed since the last running at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, that victory and record for Patten didn’t earn the additional record point. With four rounds remaining, it is still mathematically possible for someone to earn 104 points and beat Patten, but that possibility drops to zero after Lime Rock Park next week.
Eric Fleming set the pace for Unlimited early in the weekend with a track record in in Heat 2.
Unlimited class saw Mike Dusold’s record from last year fall almost immediately during Friday’s Heat 2, with Eric Fleming’s thundering C6 Corvette laying down a blistering 2:04.203. Dusold came within three tenths, with a 2:04.522, in an attempt to defend his record, but could not go faster. However, mechanical issues prevented Fleming from completing the weekend, allowing Dusold to win the Podium Sprint over Ernestas Puzelis and Andrius Bertulis.
Ryan Leach Reign Comes to an End
The GRIDLIFE RUSH Series at Road America had new winners, unseating Ryan Leach as the only race winner so far in the championship rounds in 2025. Though Leach scored the pole for race one, James French snuck by Leach before a full course yellow brought an end to the race, earning French his first ever RUSH Series victory. Blair Hosie won races two and three of the weekend, edging ahead of Nico Bratz in race 2 and Bryce Merseberger, a driver who won a race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in a non-points round, in race 3. During race four, a car stopped at turn 5 brought out a local yellow, right as James French initiated a pass on Blair Hosie for the lead. Having passed under yellow, French gave the position back, but chased Hosie back down through the kink. The pair drag raced up the front straightaway, resulting in French winning by just 0.006 seconds, the closest margin of victory ever in GRIDLIFE wheel-to-wheel race.
Blair Hosie leads
GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends is up next, as drivers change mindsets from attacking the four-mile behemoth of Road America to the confines of the 1.5-mile Lime Rock Park in Round 6 of 9 of the 2025 season. Tickets are still available and all the racing, drifting, and time attack will be streamed live on the GRIDLIFE YouTube Channel Friday and Saturday, August 15th and 16th.
