GLTC Fields & Races to Double at Circuit Legends Festival
Chicago, IL - GRIDLIFE’s single-class Touring Cup series (GLTC) will debut a new racing format at its Circuit Legends event at Lime Rock Park, August 18-20. GLTC has seen field sizes grow year over year, now averaging nearly fifty per event. The pressures of large field sizes weigh most at smaller circuits, like the 1.5-mile Lime Rock Park that will hold the second annual Circuit Legends Festival next month. Last year, there were 32 entries in GLTC at Lime Rock Park; this year, there are nearly fifty entrants.
GRIDLIFE’s co-founder Chris Stewart explained how the new format will make GRIDLIFE Touring Cup more accessible.
“The expansion of the GLTC field with this new format is going to further our mission of motorsports inclusion by allowing more drivers to compete in the clean and competitive racing conditions they’ve come to expect.“
Joel Morrison leads Paul Darling, Zac Lovoy, and Colton Wade through turn 9 at Watkins Glen International. Photo by Chris Sullivan.
GRIDLIFE rulemakers have added supplemental regulations detailing a new format, that divides the field into two race groups based on qualifying results. Qualifying will be a single, 40-minute session. The new format is as follows:
Top half of qualifiers start in Race A, bottom half of qualifiers start in Race B
Race B runs first, immediately followed by Race A.
The top 5 in Race B will switch groups with the bottom 5 of Race A for the next race.
After Race 3, no race group switching will occur, and the typical random invert will apply to both groups independently.
Any disqualified drivers will start at the tail of the B Grid for the following race.
Weekend points will be awarded normally, with the addition of 3, 2, and 1 point(s) awarded to the top 3 of each B Race.
Each race will remain the standard 12-15 minutes, with Race B first, then Race A immediately after. The supplemental rules will be trialed at Circuit Legends in August, but could be used for future events to expand available entries to more competitors at many or all of GRIDLIFE’s Festival Tour events.
GingerMan Raceway has hosted the largest ever field in GLTC - 56 cars. Photo by Rob Wilkinson.
Motorsports Director and GRIDLIFE cofounder Adam Jabaay said about the new format,
“While we love full fields, we don't want to overfill a small and fast track like the legendary Lime Rock Park. We're really excited to have two rungroups and allow more drivers to experience this facility.”
The GRIDLIFE Touring Cup series races next at Road America in conjunction with the NASCAR Xfinity Series, July 27-29, followed by Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Lime Rock Park in August, with the season finale taking place at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in October.
The three remaining Festival Tour rounds will be broadcast live on the GRIDLIFE YouTube and Twitch pages. For tickets and information about the upcoming Circuit Legends event at Lime Rock Park, August 18-20, visit circuitlegends.com
