Kutil, Magnussen Duel at Road Atlanta in GRIDLIFE Special Stage
Braselton, GA – GRIDLIFE’s second event of 2026 took place at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in collaboration with Formula Drift, marking the second time the series has partnered with Formula Drift at the iconic circuit in northern Georgia. Dubbed GRIDLIFE Special Stage, the event put all five GRIDLIFE competition series on display in front of a packed crowd of GRIDLIFE and Formula Drift fans alike.
While GRIDLIFE TrackBattle shattered records throughout the weekend and every series delivered competitive racing, Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup stole the spotlight with a four-race showdown between Eric Kutil and Eric Magnussen that instantly entered the conversation as one of the best weekends in recent GLTC history.
Eibach GLTC Produces Weekend-Long Heavyweight Fight
After a frustrating opening round at Carolina Motorsports Park that saw mechanical issues derail his weekend, Eric Kutil arrived at Road Atlanta determined to rebound. He started strong with pole position and backed it up with a commanding Race 1 victory over Eric Magnussen.
Behind the lead duo, the updated 2026 regulations again highlighted the variety of competitive platforms now thriving in GLTC. Aryton Grim finished fourth in his turbocharged MX-5, followed by Daniel Giraldo in a Lexus IS350, RJ Till in an E30 BMW, and Blake Korth in a Porsche Cayman.
Race 2 belonged to Magnussen early, with the #3 BMW sporting a new Dale Earnhardt-inspired livery utilizing BMW’s Austin Yellow and Laguna Blue factory colors. In the closing laps, Kutil mounted a charge and drew alongside Magnussen through Turn 1 before completing the pass in Turn 3 to steal the victory - his second career Road Atlanta win. RJ Till completed the podium for his first-ever Eibach GLTC top-three finish.
The third race of the weekend delivered the defining moment of the event. Magnussen led while Kutil and Aryton Grim closed rapidly behind. Coming to the final lap, Kutil drew alongside Magnussen entering Turn 12 while Grim attempted to carry momentum around the outside. The trio sorted back into line through the Esses, but Kutil remained glued to Magnussen’s rear bumper.
Entering 10A on the final run to the line, Kutil pulled alongside once again while Grim positioned himself perfectly exiting 10B, nearly making it a three-wide sprint to the checkered flag. Ultimately, Kutil edged Magnussen at the stripe, with Grim just behind in third after one of the cleanest and hardest-fought battles of the season. The race perfectly showcased GLTC’s continued emphasis on close, respectful racing without contact despite increasingly competitive machinery under the revised 2026 rules package.
The final race of the weekend featured a six-car invert that placed Zach Mortimer on pole, but Grim wasted little time charging to the front. After missing Race 2 at Carolina Motorsports Park due to crash damage repairs, Grim continued to show impressive pace and appeared poised for a breakthrough victory.
Instead, Kutil hunted him down in the closing laps and completed the pass with just a few laps remaining, becoming only the third driver in Eibach GLTC history to sweep qualifying and all four races in a single weekend.
Kutil now leads Magnussen by just two points, 165-163, heading into Midwest Festival next month.
GRIDLIFE RUSH Series Continues Breakout 2026 Season
The GRIDLIFE RUSH Series continued its momentum from Carolina Motorsports Park with another record-setting field, growing from 44 cars at CMP to 53 entries at Road Atlanta. The increasingly deep field has quickly become one of the most competitive paddocks in GRIDLIFE competition, with returning veterans, karting standouts, and first-year drivers all battling at the front.
James French claimed pole position over Blair Hosie and karting champion Jordon Musser, who made his RUSH Series debut at Road Atlanta after years of success in karting competition. Championship leader Bryce Mersberger, fresh off his breakout weekend and first career wins at Carolina Motorsports Park, qualified fifth.
Race 1 saw Blair Hosie finally convert his front-running speed into victory after showing winning pace at CMP. Hosie scampered clear of Ryan Leach and James French to win by nearly two seconds, while Musser impressed early before gearbox problems relegated him to fifth by race end.
Saturday morning’s Race 2 delivered a much tighter battle at the front. Ryan Leach, the defending series champion, held off Mersberger by just eight tenths of a second, while Ryerson Whissell continued an impressive rookie campaign with another top-five finish. Aryton Grim - pulling double duty between GLTC and RUSH - and Ellis Spiezia also cracked the top five.
A late caution period dramatically altered the results, however, as officials issued a wave of pass-under-yellow penalties that disqualified eight drivers, including Hosie, who had originally finished inside the top five.
Like GLTC, Race 3 became an instant classic. Bryce Mersberger attacked James French entering the final corner and drag-raced him all the way to the stripe, falling short by just 0.037 seconds in one of the closest finishes in GRIDLIFE history. Jordan Musser rebounded from earlier issues to finish third ahead of Hosie and Leach in a race that saw the lead pack separated by only tenths throughout the closing laps.
The final race of the weekend remained just as intense, with Mersberger finally earning his lone victory of the weekend ahead of Hosie by only two tenths of a second. French completed another podium finish in third, continuing a remarkably consistent weekend near the front of the field.
Thanks to his consistency across all four races, a strength that also carried him to the overall weekend win at Carolina Motorsports Park, Mersberger secured the overall Road Atlanta victory by 10 points over Leach and extended his championship advantage heading into GingerMan Raceway.
Rosenberg, Aranha Continue Emerging GRIDLIFE GT Rivalry
GRIDLIFE GT continued to evolve rapidly at Road Atlanta as former GLTC frontrunners further adapted to the faster, more extreme category introduced with the series’ new Toyo Proxes R spec tire package in 2026.
Matan Rosenberg, the reigning Eibach GLTC champion, continued building momentum after earning his first GRIDLIFE GT victory at Carolina Motorsports Park just weeks earlier. The Vibrant Performance Corvette looked increasingly sorted throughout the weekend, with Rosenberg claiming pole position and winning the opening three races.
Christian Aranha, one of the fastest drivers at CMP before mechanical setbacks compromised his weekend, again showed blistering pace in Georgia. After battling reliability issues early, Aranha spent much of the weekend charging forward through the field, often setting some of the fastest laps of the race while chasing Rosenberg.
Behind the lead duo, the battle for the remaining podium spots remained tight throughout the weekend. Chris DeLucia quietly assembled one of his strongest weekends in recent memory, repeatedly finding himself in the fight for podium positions. AJ Hartman continued wrestling with a persistent boost leak in his high-downforce turbocharged V6 Mustang but still managed multiple top-five finishes. Jordan Wiseley and the KDM Tuners crew once again demonstrated their resilience after replacing the engine in the Veloster N overnight between Races 1 and 2 just to keep the car in contention.
By Race 3, Aranha had narrowed the gap to just half a second behind Rosenberg’s Corvette, setting up a dramatic finale for Sunday afternoon.
Due to time constraints during the packed Formula Drift weekend schedule, the final GRIDLIFE GT race was combined with Eibach GLTC, creating one of the most chaotic and entertaining races of the event. Fans watched GT leaders weave through dense GLTC traffic while battling for position, often encountering slower-class cars corner after corner around the fast Road Atlanta circuit.
Aranha ultimately salvaged the weekend by defeating Rosenberg in the final race by six seconds, with Chris DeLucia completing the podium. Rosenberg’s consistency across all four races, however, allowed him to leave Road Atlanta with a 21-point championship lead over Aranha as the category heads toward Midwest Festival with momentum continuing to build.
Nine TrackBattle Records Fall at Road Atlanta
GRIDLIFE TrackBattle continued its blistering pace to start 2026, with nine different track records falling at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta — several by multiple seconds compared to previous benchmarks.
With no Podium Sprint session during the condensed Special Stage schedule, competitors relied solely on their fastest lap times from the weekend to determine final class standings.
Unlimited competitors Mike Dusold in his 1967 Camaro and Jimmy Rauck in his Honda Civic both chased long-standing Unlimited class records set by Will Au-Yeung and Feras Qartoumy. Dusold came within two tenths of the RWD benchmark, but neither driver could eclipse the existing marks.
Track Mod produced some of the biggest gains of the weekend. Chris Boersma reset his own FWD Track Mod record from 2019 with a 1:28.172, while Adam Slowinski continued his breakout season by lowering the AWD Track Mod mark to a 1:26.528 in his BMW M4 Competition. After resetting records at Carolina Motorsports Park one month earlier, Slowinski now owns victories in the opening two rounds of the season.
Street Mod again belonged to Dewey DeWitt and his Subaru Impreza known as “Boogeyman.” DeWitt obliterated the previous record with a 1:26.515 before parking the car for the remainder of the weekend to preserve it for a planned GingerMan Raceway record attempt. Kal Fortner and Andy Hsiao completed the podium. On Friday, a scary accident destroyed the #444 Supra driven by Luca Barberis. While a full investigation has yet to be done, onboard video appears to show a braking problem lead to a heavy impact at turn 6. Barberis was able to get out of the car under his own power and was okay, but the Supra isn’t likely repairable. Thankfully, Barberis’ incident wasn’t part of a long list during the Special Stage weekend.
Dai Yoshihara finished just outside the podium in his first weekend in the Subimods 861.
Luke McGrew remained undefeated in Street GT, breaking his own record multiple times throughout the weekend before settling on a 1:29.841 in his black Corvette. McGrew is already halfway toward a second consecutive perfect season in one of TrackBattle’s deepest categories.
Josh Halka continued his dominant Street-class form after already resetting records at Carolina Motorsports Park earlier this season. Halka won with a 1:32.778 over Mike Callaway and Mike Coons, while Willem Drees reset the FWD Street-class record to a 1:35.640 in the KDM Tuners Hyundai Elantra N.
Falken ClubTR and ClubSC also saw records tumble. Jerami Bailey fired off a blistering 1:34.076 Saturday morning in his FA24-swapped FR-S, while Evan McLaren and Peter Granberg astonishingly tied for second with identical lap times down to the thousandth, 1:34.122. McLaren also secured the FWD ClubTR record with the same lap.
In Falken ClubSC, Lennon Radcliffe defeated points leader Mike Janssen with a 1:48.298 that reset the class record during Heat 5. Radcliffe now leaves Road Atlanta tied with Janssen atop the standings heading into GingerMan Raceway.
Drift Takes Center Stage Saturday Night
While on-track competition wrapped up early Sunday afternoon, GRIDLIFE Drift became part of Formula Drift’s halftime show Saturday night, filling the chicane and drift loop with tandem trains under the lights.
Atlanta native T-Pain joined the festivities just days before the announcement that both he and DJ Diesel (Shaq) will headline GRIDLIFE Summer Apex Festival at Watkins Glen International in July.
Watch race replays, live broadcasts, and more on the GRIDLIFE YouTube channel, and get ready for GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival, June 12–14, 2026. Tickets are available now.
