GRIDLIFE Pitt Race Brings Cool Temps, Hot Battles, in NOS TrackBattle and GLTC
Wampum, PA - GRIDLIFE Pitt Race marked the end of the 2024 points season for the NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship and GRIDLIFE Touring Cup. This stop on the Club Circuit calendar was the only the second time GRIDLIFE series have visited the Pittsburgh International Race Complex facility, and the first return to the venue since 2022. The 19-turn, 2.78-mile circuit is known for its high grip, abrasive surface, and immense elevation change. The weekend featured 74 NOS TrackBattle entrants, 44 GLTC entrants, HPDE, and a field of drift cars utilizing both the skidpad and the full course.
Time Attack Records Set, Reset, in Every Class
For the first time, a full-force field of NOS TrackBattle entrants took on Pitt Race, with many drivers locked in fierce championship fights. In Falken Sundae Cup, the #528 Mazda MX-5 of Richard Sawicki took an early lead over the #411 Honda Fit of Chris Rice, but a non-approved underbody aero addition disqualified the early-weekend times for Sawicki. Sunday’s rainy sessions provided an opportunity for Sawicki to run times again with the compliance issue corrected, but the slick surface and standing water prevented him from climbing onto the podium. Rice’s time of 2:10.980 reset the Sundae Cup front-drive record and earned him the biggest trophy on the podium. The #370 and #134 Honda Fits of Sam Deuling and David Best finished second and third in class, respectively.
Chris Rice attacks the downhill portion of Pittsburgh International Race Complex
Falken Club TR featured 19 entrants, another strong field for the GRIDLIFE-native class. Though the fights in the category were tight all through the order, the top three cars, led by the #514 Acura Integra of Evan McLaren, were separated by just three tenths of a second. McLaren and the #511 Subaru BRZ of Peter Granberg entered Pitt Race just a few points apart, which meant whichever driver beat the other would claim the season title. McLaren ran a 1:54.210 early on Friday, setting the benchmark time for Granberg to chase. Granberg set a 1:54.213, just 0.003 seconds off of McLaren’s Integra - and he would go no faster. Stan Fayngold set a 1:54.361, finishing out one of the closest podiums of the season.
Evan McLaren’s #514 Acura Integra defeated Peter Granberg by just 0.003 seconds with a time set early Friday morning.
In contrast to Falken Club TR, Street class had just 7 cars at Pitt Race, with the class leader, the #625 Nissan 350Z of Sam Bosnian, setting a time nearly three seconds quicker than 2nd in class. Bosian’s 1:54.254 was plenty to secure a win, with Eddy Segal and Cody Umbaugh’s Honda Civics finishing second and third to the Bosnian 350Z. Both Bosian and Eddy Segal set new records, though Segal’s time was a setting of a new record and not a reset of an existing record, which would have granted him an additional point.
Street GT’s podium featured some familiar names, though not necessarily from within the class. The #550 Chevrolet Camaro of Christian Aranha claimed third place with a 1:51.556, Ryan Mathews placed second with a 1:51.323, but it was current Street Modified champion Allen Patten in the #606 Chevrolet Corvette at the top with 1:48.944. Patten’s season thus far only consisted of four events, all of which he won in Street Mod, with track records, scoring perfect points and clinching the championship two months ago after Circuit Legends. With his time in the Corvette, Patten again was at the top of his class with a track record reset, earning 26 points and placing him 17th of 49 competitors in Street GT this year with only one event completed.
Though Patten had already clinched the Street Modified title, Kyle McKiou continued his efforts to match Patten in his #29 Toyota GR Supra. Against stiff competition, the #70 Subaru Impreza of Dewey DeWitt, McKiou managed a 1:45.093 earning a track record and the biggest trophy in Street Mod. Though DeWitt struggled with steering rack issues, his fastest lap of 1:47.985 landed him second place, ahead of Jon Roed in a wild-sounding ND Mazda MX-5.
Kyle McKiou’s Toyota GR Supra took home wins in two categories at Pitt Race - adorned with a red trunk from Jackie Ding’s Supra - as the amount of downforce his aero generated split his trunk in two.
McKiou also made waves in Track Mod, running in both categories as he has several round this year, with a change of setup and tires throughout the weekend. With the adjustments to the Track Mod ruleset in 2023, there were no current standing records with the current ruleset, so the only extra point on the line was the overall track record point, which is available to a driver that sets the fastest time of the track across all classes, but doesn’t have a class record to reset to earn them the typical extra point. McKiou, in Track Mod trim, ran a 1:44.366, over 5.5 seconds quicker that Bronson McNemar and David Bamforth, who finished 2nd and 3rd in the #114 Mazda MX-5 and #404 Porsche Cayman, respectively. McKiou earned 26 points, 25 for the class win and an additional point for breaking the overall GRIDLIFE track record.
The Unlimited category had just two cars - Andrius Bertulis in his #171 Lexus RCF, and Jeremy Lowder, in his #525 Chevrolet Camaro. Bertulis won the weekend with a 1:49.573, and Lowder ran just behind witha 1:50.494. Ghais Khaleghi, in a Duqueine D-08 LMP3 chassis, set a time of 1:44.599 in the unscored SuperUnlimited class.
GLTC Championship Concludes at Pitt Race
GRIDLIFE Touring Cup’s season finale also took place at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, with a field of 44 cars on the entry list. The grid included championship leader Matan Rosenberg, in his #484 Chevrolet Corvette, and championship hopefuls James Houghton, in the #41 Acura TSX, and Eric Kutil, in the #82 Honda Civic Si. Notably missing was the #7 Chevrolet Corvette of Luke McGrew, who trailed Rosenberg by just three points for the championship. The weekend would have likely decided the championship by whichever Corvette beat the other. Though McGrew was absent, his car, renumber as the #17, was driven by Tony Marchev. In a shocking turn of events, Marchev offered to purchase McGrew’s car after he jokingly offered it for sale, but Marchev wasn’t bluffing. McGrew intends to compete in the NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship next season in select rounds with his new Chevrolet Corvette C8 Z06.
With the early weekend dramas out of the way, Saturday morning’s Race 1 brought the first full-size GLTC field to Pitt Race. The #3 Chevrolet Corvette of Erik Meadows started first, but the Team ASM #212 S2000 quickly dispatched the Corvette and took the lead. Rosenberg, Houghton, and Marchev trailed the leaders until an engine issue for the #404 of Donald Lui brought out a full-course yellow for a brief moment. At the restart, Team ASM pulled away and secured a race win on Saturday morning.
James Houghton, who entered Pitt Race third in the championship standings, needed to outperform Matan Rosenberg by more than 30 points over the course of the weekend to be champion. Saturday afternoon, he made some gains by winning the second race of the weekend over Team ASM and Rosenberg. The win gained him 7 points, but the balance swung back in Matan’s favor for Race 3, where Rosenberg won with Houghton finishing fifth. Houghton led the opening moments of the race, which was in damp conditions, but chose driver’s right for the race start, hoping to avoid the slick racing line. However, Pitt Race’s unique and abrasive surface offered up plenty of grip for Team ASM and driver Tom O’Gorman, who snuck past on the opening lap, before eventually giving up the lead to Rosenberg. This points swing was enough for Rosenberg to mathematically clinch the title before Race 4.
Team ASM and James Houghton battle side by side towards turn 3 at Pitt Race.
With a nine-car invert, the #129 BMW M3 of James Cathers started on pole, with Tony Barber, driving Azmath Mohammed’s Toyota MR2, alongside. Barber quickly jumped to the lead and began to drive away, before being run down by James Houghton with two laps to go. Though he could no longer win the championship, Houghton added a fifth win to his 2024 season statistics. Rosenberg was unable to finish with a tire issue after contact with the Team ASM S2000, but the points advantage he had over Houghton was insurmountable. Eric Kutil, who entered Pitt Race just behind James Houghton in points, suffered mechanical issues and was not able to make up any points on the front runners.
Team ASM won the weekend, with James Houghton and Tony Marchev rounding out the podium. At season’s end each year, the perpetual “GLTC Bestest Driver” award is given out to the driver who best embodies the spirit of GLTC, on and off the racetrack. Past winners have included Scott Robertson, Luke McGrew, Zac Lovoy, and Matan Rosenberg. This year, Hans Horpedahl, driver of the #77 Myriad Motorsports Honda S2000, received the award, perhaps the highest honor in the GLTC paddock.
Champion Matan Rosenberg (center) stands beside “Bestest Driver” Hans Horpedahl (left) and Race Director Renee Hines (on the right).
Though the 2024 points season is complete for the NOS Energy TrackBattle and GRIDLIFE Touring Cup National Championships, the FCP Euro Pacific Championship still has yet to conclude, with one final event at Thunderhill Raceway Park November 16-17. For those seeking points at the event for the National championship, the event will count for 2025 season points. Tickets are still available for GRIDLIFE Thunderhill, where the competition season finally concludes.
