Andy Voelkel Wins Street GT Championship, Wins 6 of 7 Events
2024 STREET GT CLASS CHAMPION: ANDY VOELKEL
Voelkel dominated the Street GT class in 2024, earning wins and track records at Carolina Motorsports Park, GingerMan Raceway (x2), Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lime Rock Park, and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Chicago, IL - The GRIDLIFE NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship Street GT championship featured four different manufacturers in the top 5 at season’s end last year, but it was all bowties in 2024, with every event won by either a Chevrolet Corvette or Chevrolet Camaro. Six of the ten events were won by eventual champion Andy Voelkel, who took his C8-generation Corvette to the top step on the podium at four Festival Tour events and two Club Circuit rounds, earning 177 total points, and 104 counting for the championship.
Voelkel defeated the #550 Chevrolet Camaro of Christian Arnaha in the season opening round at Carolina Motorsports Park, adding on the bonus point for a track class drivetrain record. Drew Vosk, driving the #256 Toyota GR Supra, landed on the podium ahead of 4th place finisher Ryan Matthews and fifth place finisher Connor Gallagher. Voelkel skipped the first California round and next visited The Rev-Up at GingerMan Raceway, winning there and snagging the track record once more. Ido Waksman, the defending class champion, finished 2nd here, followed by Joel Phillips.
Two weeks later, GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival brought a challenge in wet conditions during the Podium Sprint, but again, Voelkel managed the top step over Ido Waksman and Nicholas Hendrix. Though he set the track record just two weeks prior, Voelkel again reset it and earned an additional point, totalling three wins in his first three events of the season. A perfect championship score in the NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship is four event wins and four track records, and Voelkel would quickly snag the last 26 points necessary to earn the maximum at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The podium at Mid-Ohio mirrored that of Midwest Festival, with Waksman and Hendrix trailing Voelkel’s pink Knottfast Motorsports/Turn-In Concepts C8 with their silver and gray C6 Corvettes.
The first upset came at Summer Apex Festival at Road America in July. During qualifying, Ido Waksman and Andy Voelkel’s first laps were within thousandths of each other, but Waksman’s Podium Sprint efforts were over a half-second quicker than Voelkel could manage, giving Waksman the track record and event win. Voelkel finished 2nd, the only time in 2024 he earned anything but the biggest trophy. Keenan Prusank, driving the #187 Chevrolet Camaro, scored his first podium of 2024 at Road America.
Voelkel would defeat Waksman again at Lime Rock Park in August, and then made the trip to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in September and easily took home victory there, finishing off his season with six wins in seven tries and one of the highest points totals ever seen with the current points format. Ido Waksman and Nicholas Hendrix finished second and third on the season, with two event wins and 6 podiums in 7 tries for Waksman, and three podiums in five attempts for Hendrix.
