Evan McLaren Defeats Peter Granberg for Season Title by 0.003 Seconds in Epic Falken Club TR Fight

2024 FALKEN CLUB TR CHAMPION: EVAN MCLAREN

McLaren won the 2024 GRIDLIFE NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship with 103 points in four rounds (128 total) with victories at Carolina Motorsports Park, GingerMan Raceway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lime Rock Park, and Pittsburgh International Race Complex.

McLaren earned class drivetrain track records at three events.

Chicago, IL - The 2024 season champion for the NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship Falken Club TR class is Evan McLaren, driver of the #514 Acura Integra. The championship race may have been one of the closest in GRIDLIFE history, with the final round at Pittsburgh International Race Complex turning into a winner-take-all event. Peter Granberg, whose #511 Subaru BRZ was positioned to steal the lead from McLaren, came up just shy of defeating McLaren - just 0.003 seconds away. McLaren entered five rounds of NOS TrackBattle competition in 2024, and won all of them. However, the championship takes a sum of a driver’s best four rounds - and Granberg had matched McLaren’s points at other rounds where McLaren wasn’t present.

When the season began in April, McLaren locked up a 25-point victory at Carolina Motorsports Park, defeating Mario Mirone, Jerami Bailey, Kevin Vue, and James Houghton. When the series visited Willow Springs, none of the early players were present, with Meng Tea, Jedwyn Taasin, and Karla Pestotnik taking home podiums in the first round of the FCP Euro Pacific Championship. May brought the GingerMan Rev-Up, a Club Circuit event that takes place two weeks before GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival. Here, James Houghton took his first win of the season, defeating Peter Granberg and resetting the front-wheel drive track record.

GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival in June was the first visit on the calendar where McLaren, Granberg, Mirone, Houghton, and Stan Fayngold were all present, and through a rainy Podium Sprint, James Houghton ran off course and ended up fifth, with Fayngold fourth, Mirone third, and Granberg second to McLaren, who locked up his second Festival Tour win with 25 points. Because Houghton reset the track record in more favorable conditions two weeks prior, McLaren again failed to claim the class drivetrain record, which would leave him vulnerable later in the year.

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course brought a similar top 5, this time with Fez Babar snagging fifth while McLaren outpaced Granberg again. Both Granberg and McLaren earned an extra point for a class track record in their drivetrain category. While McLaren skipped Summer Apex at Road America, Granberg used his absence to claim victory for the first time in 2024, earning not only the win but a track record. When the duo visited Lime Rock Park for GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends, both earned track records, but it was McLaren again who defeated Granberg. 

Though McLaren had nearly maxed out his potential points with four wins, Granberg went on a tear, winning at Autobahn Country Club and again at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, positioning himself to steal the championship from McLaren at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Both drivers again earned track class records, but McLaren laid down a time early Friday morning that Peter Granberg nearly matched - but almost doesn’t cut it in motorsports.

The Falken Club TR championship was decided by mere thousandths of a second and featured a field of 86 competitors across 10 rounds in 2024. The category remains one of GRIDLIFE’s strongest, featuring the largest field sizes consistently, often approaching 30 cars per event. Evan McLaren won every round he entered in 2024 and earned track records at three, capping it off at Pitt Race with the championship.