Unlimited Class Championship Claimed by Steve Luca

2024 UNLIMITED CLASS CHAMPION: STEVE LUCA

Steve Luca won the 2024 NOS Energy TrackBattle Unlimited category with 90 points, with two wins (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Autobahn Country Club), a second (Lime Rock Park) and a third (Road America). His time at Mid-Ohio, a 1:21.633, is the new overall GRIDLIFE track record.

Chicago, IL - Steve Luca, driver of the #500 Ford Mustang in the GRIDLIFE NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship, won the 2024 Unlimited class championship by four points over Andrius Bertulis in a Lexus RCF. Luca’s Ford Mustang saw significant changes in the offseason and spring, and though Luca entered the championship late in the season, managed to win two events and podium in all four he entered, edging out Bertulis with 90 points to Bertulis’ 86.

Luca’s season began at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where he would attempt to tackle Feras Qartoumy’s standing track record set in 2021. Luca won the event in class by nearly four seconds and set a new overall GRIDLIFE track record at Mid-Ohio, running a 1:21.633, a tenth quicker than Qartoumy’s time. Jim Rauck, in a rowdy Honda Civic, placed second, with Nicholas Gardner finishing third in his Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.

Luca’s next event was the new Summer Apex Festival at Road America, where he placed third behind Mike Dusold and Gardner. Dusold’s lap time on the freshly repaved course was a track record, but with only a few other events on the calendar for the nearly 2,000 horsepower Chevrolet Camaro, Dusold missed out on winning the title.

At Lime Rock Park in August, Luca finished second, picking up 21 points in pursuit of Sasha Anis, whose hybrid Nissan 350Z “Kels” set the GRIDLIFE overall track record in spectacular fashion on Saturday afternoon. Evan Slater, in a Porsche 944, finished third at Circuit Legends.

The final event Steve Luca competed in for the 2024 season was GRIDLIFE Chicagoland, at Autobahn Country Club, where he beat Ernestas Puzelis and championship rival Andrius Bertulis. Though Bertulis won at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in October, he couldn’t amass enough points to defeat Luca, who had an extra podium and track record. 

The championship podium consists of Steve Luca, Andrius Bertulis, and Jeremy Lowder, who gathered 82 points in his #525 Chevrolet Camaro.