Barberis Locks Up GRIDLIFE Street Class Championship with Perfect Score

2024 STREET CLASS CHAMPION: LUCA BARBERIS

Barberis won the 2024 GRIDLIFE NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship in Street class with 104 points, with wins at Carolina Motorsports Park, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Road America, Lime Rock Park. Barberis reset the Street class AWD record at all of them.

Chicago, IL - The 2024 GRIDLIFE NOS Energy TrackBattle Street Class Championship winner, Luca Barberis, became one of three class champions to score 104 points and the championship - a perfect score with four event wins and four track records. Barberis, who drives the #63 Mitsubishi Evolution, competed in five events in 2024, but dropped his low points scoring round, a 22-point second place finish at GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival in June. Barberis defeated the #555 Subaru WRX of Joe Mielke and the #625 Nissan 350Z of Sam Bosnian to win the title.

The season opening NOS TrackBattle round at Carolina Motorsports Park was Barberis’ first win of the year, beating local driver Tim White and Mike Coons, who both drove Subaru Imprezas. Barberis also snagged the class AWD track record, earning him an extra point for a total of 26.

The next stop on the calendar for Barberis was GRIDLIFE’s Midwest Festival, one of the most competitive events of the season. Street class at Midwest Festival featured 18 cars, second only to the lead-up event to the festival, Rev-Up, held at GingerMan Raceway two weeks prior to the big show on festival weekend, which had 19. Here, the Festival Tour Podium Sprint format proved challenging due to a passing rainstorm. Because drivers run their podium make-or-break lap in sequence rather than together, the track conditions varied slightly from lap to lap. Joe Mielke and his Subaru managed to stitch together a lap good enough to defeat Barberis fellow Evolution driver Ben Lin, who nearly threw it all away on his lap on the slick track in turn 2.

The next event on the calendar was Mid-Ohio Meet, held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with the classic NOS TrackBattle format rather than Podium Sprint. While Brad Moore managed to break a track record in the rear-drive category of Street class on the newly repaved circuit, Barberis nabbed another victory here, along with another AWD drivetrain class record. Eddy Segal and his front-wheel drive #470 Honda Civic managed to complete the sweep of drivetrain records, finishing third in class.

GRIDLIFE’s first festival at Road America, Summer Apex, again prompted a battle between Luca Barberis and Bard Moore, but this time, third on the podium went to Sam Bosnian. Barberis’ final event of the season was in late August, at the Circuit Legends festival at Lime Rock Park. Once again a battle between Mielke, Barberis, and Eddy Segal, Barberis came out on top, winning his fourth event of the season and with a track record. Because the NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship only consists of a driver’s best four events, Barberis stacked up four event wins and four records, earning the maximum number of points - 104. Mielke finished his season with a win at Autobahn Country Club, and Bosnian with a win at Pitt Race in October, but neither driver had the points to defeat the #63 Evolution. Mielke ended the season with 97 points, and Bosian with a total of 87.