WE'LL DO IT LIVE, BLOG! #GRIDLIFE ALPINE HORIZON - TrackBattle Round 5
RACE HERO LIVE TIMING
EVENT SCHEDULE
GRIDLIFE LIVE BROADCAST
TRACKBATTLE OVERALL RESULTS
TRACKBATTLE RUN GROUPS
2020.08.16 - 11:40 - End of TrackBattle Heat 7
Plenty of tension in grid, as drivers Alex Moss and Jackie Ding battled back and forth for the entire session. A tire change in this morning gave Alex some more confidence as he closed the gap to first to less than 0.1s, but wasn’t able to take the top spot yet. One more session left for the weekend, before a full rebuild scheduled for his S2000. Time to turn it up.
TrackBattle Heat 7 Results
2020.08.15 - 22:00 - End of GLTC Race 3
The lights are on and the intensity picked up for GLTC race 3. After a wild top 10 shootout leaving Myriad Motorsports driver Justin Kelly on pole, the field took the green lit up with LEDs under a dark Colorado sky. Cox, Kutil, Smedegard, and Kelly all took turns in the middle of three-wide scenarios as they raced through the technical infield of Pikes Peak International Raceway. Kelly protected in the inside line into turn four, leaving Kutil with no choice but to follow. In the closing moments, Andy Smedegard snuck up the inside of Kutil and stole the silver, leaving Kutil on the bottom step of the podium. Stephen Cox and a charging Tom O'Gorman finished out the rest of the top five at PPIR.
GLTC Race 3 Results
2020.08.15 - 20:20 - End of TrackBattle Heat 6
As the sun went down, Charles Miller took to the track for the first time on Saturday. Wasting no time to reclaim the lead from Austin Hertel, Spaz was able to run a personal best 1:02.719. Alex Moss was able to close the gap on Jackie Ding with a 59.160, still trailing by two tenths. He’s surely going to pull out all the stops on Sunday morning to try to take the lead.
TrackBattle Heat 6 Results
2020.08.15 - 18:00 - End of GLTC Race 2
GLTC race 2 was the first day race of the weekend, after a pitch black race one on Friday night. At the front, the fight was with Andy Smedegard and Eric Kutil. Coming off of a race 1 win, Smedegard started on pole, and defended from Kutil lap after lap in the infield road course. Kutil was unable recover from a late-race lockup into turn four, and fell back to the second step of the podium. Justin Kelly, Stephen Cox, and Sally McNulty rounded out the rest of the top five with her best career finish.
GLTC Race 2 Results
2020.08.15 - 16:40 - End of TrackBattle Heat 5
With Charles Miller taking the afternoon to head to the top of Pikes Peak, the lead in Street class was up for grabs. Austin Hertel took advantage in his 370Z, with a personal best 1:03.248.
TrackBattle Heat 5 Results
2020.08.15 - 14:20 - End of TrackBattle Heat 4
A late start on Saturday affected track quality, and driver’s ability to go fast. In Heat 4 all frontrunners all running slower than their best from Friday, except for Feras Qartoumy. A quick couple of laps before he headed to the airport and back to Texas allowed him to improve to a 56.402.
TrackBattle Heat 4 Results
2020.08.14 - 20:40 - End of GLTC Race 1
#GRIDLIFE Touring Cup Race 1 from PPIR got off to a rocky start in the shadow of the Colorado mountains. Tom O'Gorman and Stephen Cox jumped the start in the darkness, creating chaos on the opening lap. At the front, it was Cox, Kutil, and Justin Kelly vying for position, each lap trying to out brake the other. Contact entering the infield sent 11-time GLTC winner Eric Kutil to the paddock for repairs. Kelly, Cox, and Smedegard continued their three-way scrap for several laps, before overheating tires on Cox's Corvette sent him to the bottom step of the podium. Smedegard sped into the darkness and snagged the victory, giving him the pole for Saturday's Race 2.
GLTC Race 1 Results
2020.08.14 - 18:20 - End of TrackBattle Heat 3
Drivers took to the track for the final TA session on Friday with a chance to go fast. 5 drivers now have laps below one minute, and we’re still in the first day of competition. Feras Qartoumy put down back to back fast laps and ended the night with a new overall track record 56.402. Fellow TrackMod competitor Cody Miles is a few seconds back, but dropped his laptime below 1 minute, with a 58.646. Jackie Ding continues to learn the course and was able to take the StreetMod record from Shawn Krebsbach with a 59.187. Look for him to drop into the 58’s in the morning. Not far behind, Dewey DeWitt and Alex Moss are only 1-2 seconds off the pace from Jackie. Dewey’s dealing with some mechanical issues which could keep him from taking the track again this weekend, but expect Alex and his S2000 to drop some more time on Saturday.
TRACK BATTLE HEAT 3 RESULTS
2020.08.14 - 18:20 - End of GLTC Qualifying
With the sun no longer overhead, drivers improved in qualifying. Andy Smedegard claimed the top spot on the timesheets on his first flying lap with a 1:02.756. Justin Kelly was not far behind with a 1:03.046. Eric Kutil rounded out the top 3, with a 1:03.522. With a small field of 13 cars at this event, and a time spread of only 6 seconds from first to last, expect a close finish in Race 1.
GLTC QUALIFYING RESULTS
2020.08.14 - 17:00 - End of TrackBattle Heat 2
Punishing heat in the second session of time attack slowed many drivers down. Air temps of 96°F, put track temps well into the triple digits. Until the sun goes down, don’t expect anyone to be going faster today.
TRACK BATTLE HEAT 2 RESULTS
2020.08.14 - 15:40 - End of GLTC Practice
Tiffany Kelly got off to a fast start on a familiar track. With 3 wins under her belt here in 2019, she looked poised to repeat in 2020. Her best time in practice was a 1:04.393. A late fast lap by Andy Smedegard put him at the top of the time sheets though, with a 1:03.803. Eric Kutil struggled with a battery issue that kept him out of the session. Now fully repaired, look for him to take to the grid for the first time in the qualifying session.
GLTC PRACTICE RESULTS
2020.08.14 - 11:25 - End of TrackBattle Heat 1
With many drivers new to PPIR and the roval format, drivers were encouraged to work up to pace this first session. Already familiar with the track, Feras Qartoumy wasted no time taking last year’s track record from Jeremy Swenson. Feras was able work through some mechanical gremlins during the short break after Mid-Ohio and brought the car to Colorado at full strength. On his first and only timed lap of the session, Feras was able to put down an incredible 56.922 in the TrackMod class. Jackie was fastest in StreetMod with a 1:00.522, but has to find a bit more time to match Shawn Krebsbach’s winning 59.829 from last year. Expect a 3-way battle this weekend in the SM group, with Alex Moss and Dewey DeWitt here this weekend too. Chris Mayfield is rookie to #GRIDLIFE, but is a proven fast driver with 4 SCCA autocross nationals titles to his name. He’s in the hunt in StreetMod as well with a 1:01.751. Austin Hertel is leading the Street class with a record 1:03.517.
TRACK BATTLE HEAT 1 RESULTS
