GRIDLIFE Competitors Head East to Circuit Legends at Lime Rock Park
Salisbury, CT - GRIDLIFE’s sixth round of 2025 takes spectators and staff to the east coast and one of North America’s historic road courses, Lime Rock Park, for GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends. The event is in its fourth year, having first graced the GRIDLIFE calendar in 2022. Though the confines of the 1.5-mile course necessitate smaller grids than other tracks, the competition is always fierce across GRIDLIFE’s racing classes.
RUSH Series Competitors Take Aim at Ryan Leach
After a wild Summer Apex at Road America, GRIDLIFE RUSH Series competitors finally overthrew the winless Ryan Leach, who failed to win at the Wisconsin course and opened the door for James French and Blair Hosie to each steal a pair of victories. Though Leach’s championship lead remains large, it was the first chink in the armor for drivers like Nico Bratz and Andy Voelkel to chip away at in the title fight. Aryton Grim, who first ran in a GRIDLIFE RUSH Series race at Lime Rock Park last year, has recently acquired a new RUSH SR chassis, and will again pull double duty alongside his entry in Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup. Grim qualified on pole on Saturday in last year’s Circuit Legends RUSH Series races. Bryce Merseberger carries in momentum from events at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America as well, and is entered at Circuit Legends in his #114 RUSH SR.
Aryton Grim takes flight over the crest at The Uphill last year. Grim has a new chassis for Circuit Legends.
James Houghton, AJ Hartman Return to GRIDLIFE GT
After entering the first round of GRIDLIFE GT competition at GingerMan Raceway in June, James Houghton, AJ Hartman, and others return to racing in GRIDLIFE’s newest series after taking a short summer break. Houghton, who pilots the #41 Honda Civic TCR for K-Tuned, is running a limited schedule this year, but remains the points leader over Hartman by 30 points. Hartman’s Ford Mustang is an interesting mix of New Edge chassis, S550 Mustang rear subframe, and Ford F-150 Ecoboost engine, with custom aerodynamics. Hartman’s home-brew build runs alongside Chris DeLucia, whose BMW 3-Series backed into the tire wall in a race at Lime Rock Park in another series last month. DeLucia found another 3-Series shell that had been sitting in the weeds in a yard, and grafted it, and new suspension components, onto the back of his car in time to enter Circuit Legends. The pair of C8 Corvettes returns to Lime Rock as entered at Road America - the Peitz Performance #61 and the Paragon Performance #66, in addition to the #404 Porsche Cayman of David Bamforth. The field is also bolstered by the return of the #62 BMW of Jeffrey Zissulis, the #77 Corvette of Hans Horpedahl, and the #165 of Eric Thompson, who last competed with GRIDLIFE in Eibach GLTC.
GRIDLIFE GT will once again feature live data integrations with Fire Laps, with occasional check-ins on comparative values of live metrics, like minimum corner speeds, braking G-forces, cornering forces, and maximum straight line speeds with data streamed from Fire Laps Fire Links.
Eyes on Falken ClubTR Points Fight in TrackBattle
With a field of 70 cars in GRIDLIFE’s TrackBattle Time Attack Championship at GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends, there is plenty to follow in each of the seven classes, but perhaps the most volatile scrap is that of Falken Club TR, where three competitors are within four points in the championship. Mario Mirone leads with his Honda Civic by one point over Jerami Bailey’s Scion FR-S, with Peter Granberg’s BRZ just three points behind Bailey. While these drivers each have four events, Mirone will be absent at Lime Rock, instead replaced by another front-drive Honda competitor - Evan McLaren in his championship winning #514 Acura Integra. McLaren would likely take the lead of the standings from 6th currently if he wins and claims a record this weekend, even if the others finish right behind him. A winning performance by McLaren would turn the three-horse race into a four-car duel headed into the next round at Autobahn Country Club in September.
Evan McLaren aims to close down on the tight 3-way battle in Falken Club TR at Lime Rock Park.
In the other classes, Dewey DeWitt will chase Allen Patten’s overall class record in Street Mod, which stands at 53.887. Dewey’s current RWD record is 54.524. Jackie Ding enters Track Mod with his PhD Racing BMW M2, pursuing Brad Perkin’s 54.666 record from last season. While Sasha Anis’ Unlimited Record from 2024, a 50.686, is unlikely to fall this year, Street GT, Street, Falken Club TR, and Falken Club SC are all likely to fall after being reset last year. The aforementioned Peter Granberg and Evan McLaren are current record holders in the Falken Club TR RWD and FWD subcategories, 58.061 and 57.754, respectively.
GRIDLIFE TrackBattle will not feature a Podium Sprint at Lime Rock Park because of the time-restricted two-day format, so each driver’s quickest lap from any heat will be their time for the weekend.
Eibach GLTC Gears Up for Sixth Round of Season as Championship Shapes Up
Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup will be a battleground at Lime Rock this weekend, with a track layout that favors lightweight cars and experience. Eric Kutil, who sat out Road America awaiting some parts rebuilds, returns after a rocky experience last year. Kutil’s Civic struggled with reliability last season at Circuit Legends following a crash at Road America, and he spent weeks preparing for this event this year. He will be a driver to watch, alongside the #49 of Nicholas Barbato, a driver who considers Lime Rock Park his home track. Barbato has run a limited schedule so far this season, running at Carolina Motorsports Park and Mid-Ohio, but sits twelfth in the standings, with a win under his belt after Race 4 at Mid-Ohio. Barbato has spent months prepping for this event, and feels it may be his best opportunity to follow up his first ever Eibach GLTC win.
Lena Chin is entered in her #917 Honda S2000, and after a strong performance last year, is poised to repeat her success and may be a threat for the weekend podium. Local drivers Kevin Zhu, Donald Lui, Jeff Wasilko, Brandon Ganem, and Patrick Huxley are also entered, aiming to use their experience to claw their way to the front of one of the most competitive grassroots racing series in the country.
Sam Scott and Jake Price also had front-running pace in Race 4A at Lime Rock last year, and look to follow up that performance in 2025. The championship lead is still 30 points from Matan Rosenberg back to Eric Kutil, then five more points back to Eric Magnussen, but the newly built NB-generation Mazda MX-5 with Emile Tabb behind the wheel has scored 8 consecutive top 5s in 8 starts, including a win, and has rocketing up to fifth in the standings. Though it's unclear how many more rounds Tabb will compete in, if he continues this streak of results, he is likely to be a top-3 contender in the season championship, especially if he shows up for the season finale at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in October.
The entire weekend of on-track action will be livestreamed on the GRIDLIFE YouTube channel, with four races each for Eibach GLTC, the RUSH Series, and GRIDLIFE GT, along with all six heats of GRIDLIFE TrackBattle Time Attack. The competitive series will be split up by full course drift entertainment from a field riddled with names like Matt Coffman, Michael Essa, Grant Anderson, and more. Tickets are still available for purchase at circuitlegends.com.
