By RACER Staff - Apr 25, 2026, 8:46 AM ET

TrackBattle records, thrilling races highlight GRIDLIFE season opener in South Carolina

Words: Kyle Heyer
Photos: Rob Wilkinson

GRIDLIFE’s season-opening event at Carolina Motorsports Park saw both record crowds and record entries, teeing up one of the most competitive weekends in recent memory across every category on track. In addition to the competition series, GRIDLIFE Drift featured dozens of entries on both the full course and kart track, bolstered by Friday night’s Night Shift Drift, a two-hour, track-lit special that included appearances from Mike Prez, Hert and T-Pain.

RELATED: GRIDLIFE South Carolina 2026 was unlike anything I've ever done

Sunday afternoon’s TrackBattle Podium Sprint and the final races for Eibach GLTC, GRIDLIFE GT, and the GRIDLIFE RUSH Series debuted on national television on the RACER Network, marking a first for GRIDLIFE as it hit screens nationwide.

Eibach GLTC delivers four different winners

Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup saw several major rules changes in the offseason, including a shift away from V8 power with the addition of a horsepower cap and tightened regulations in the seventh year of the wildly popular power-to-weight sprint racing series. Thirty-nine cars populated the entry list, including last year’s runner-up Eric Kutil in his No. 82 Hybrid Racing EG.

Qualifying showed the strength of several returning and new contenders, including the No. 3 BMW M3 of Eric Magnussen, who scored pole over Kutil and Nicholas Barbato. Aryton Grim and Daniel Giraldo rounded out the top five in a turbo MX-5 and an IS 350C respectively.

The opening race of the weekend saw Kutil climb out to an early lead, before Carolina Motorsports Park’s aggressive curbing – and Kutil’s aggressive use of it – caused a coil plug wire to pop out of the No. 82. He finished the race on three cylinders in 13th place. Eric Magnussen inherited the lead, winning by just half a second over Barbato and a hard-charging ASM Toyota 86 driven by Andy Smedegard. Grim and Giraldo finished fourth and fifth, as they qualified.

The most dramatic moment of the race came late, when Bryan Hedian’s S2000 climbed over the right-rear of Grim’s MX-5, launching the car airborne for a moment before it settled back to the ground. Hedian was disqualified, and Grim limped home in fourth but had to miss the next race for repairs.

Race 2 for Eibach GLTC was a thriller, with Nicholas Barbato driving out ahead of Magnussen, Blake Korth and Andy Smedegard. All eyes, however, were on Kutil recovering from the mechanical issue in Race 1. Kutil drove from 13th to 2nd in a heroic recovery drive to salvage major weekend points. Barbato won his second career race, and his first in a non-invert scenario.

For Race 3, Kutil was back on form, winning by seven seconds over Smedegard and Magnussen. Aryton Grim was the biggest mover, climbing back to sixth after missing Race 2.

PICTURED, TOP: Aryton Grim (orange and purple) storms up the inside of Joel Morrison in Eibach GLTC Race 4.

The final race of the weekend featured an eight-car invert, putting Joel Morrison in his No. 71 J-Series V6 S2000 on pole. At the start, Grim sneaked by and drove away from the field while teammate Korth battled Magnussen and Morrison. Grim crossed the line first, but a misconfigured tune caused his car to fail post-race dyno inspection, handing the win to Blake Korth for his first career victory.

Eric Magnussen, Barbato and Smedegard podiumed for the weekend and lead the points heading into Road Atlanta in May.

Matt Waldbaum (No. 90) and Joel Morrison (No. 71) fight for position ahead of Michael Hillo and others in their S2000s.

Record entry for GRIDLIFE RUSH Series

The GRIDLIFE RUSH Series arrived in South Carolina with an eye-watering 44 cars, a record for the series at Carolina Motorsports Park. Despite a few mechanical issues during qualifying, the field completed a strong session, with reigning champion Ryan Leach topping the charts at a 1m38.276s, just a tenth ahead of Blair Hosie and a few tenths clear of Bryce Mersberger.

Ryerson Whissell (No. 45) chases Blair Hosie (No. 8) and James French (No. 191) in the GRIDLIFE RUSH Series.

Race 1 was a dramatic brawl at the front between Mersberger, Leach, and Hosie, with Jaylan Battley chasing close behind. On the final lap, Hosie and Mersberger were side by side into the final corner with Leach pressing from third. Leach made contact with Mersberger, who then slid into Hosie, and the trio skated across the curbing. Leach slipped through to take the checkered flag, but was later handed a five-place penalty for avoidable contact. Hosie received the same penalty, officially giving Bryce Mersberger the win.

Jaylan Battley and Ryan Leach lead the enormous field of RUSH cars to Turn 1 at Carolina Motorsports Park.

Race 2 again featured familiar names near the front, including Battley, James French, and Ryerson Whissell, who debuted his RUSH Series career at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last fall. Mersberger won again over Leach and Battley.

Race 3 saw a resurgence from Leach, who defeated Battley and James French in a yellow-shortened contest.

The final race of the weekend again saw familiar names near the top, but Isaac Nowlin and Tripp Staudt clawed their way forward to score top fives. Kyle Melnyk, Max Krause, and Mitchell Cooper also moved into the top 10.

A restart after a full course yellow saw Andy Voelkel turned in front of the field, ending his race and causing a stack-up that shuffled the order. On the following restart, the field again accordioned into itself, spinning out the No. 59 of Larry Brady. Incident responsibility penalties were handed out to five separate drivers in an entertaining, if chaotic, end to the weekend.

Bryce Mersberger earned his first points-paying wins and took home the weekend trophy over Jaylan Battley and Ryan Leach, leading the standings heading into next month’s event at Road Atlanta.

GRIDLIFE GT opens new era

GRIDLIFE GT entered South Carolina with a field of heavy hitters and a new spec tire, the Toyo Proxes R. Many drivers were transitioning from Eibach GLTC to the higher-powered, more extreme power-to-weight class. This included reigning GLTC champion Matan Rosenberg, now teamed with Vibrant Performance and sporting a new livery. He qualified second to Christian Aranha, the pair of Corvettes finishing just tenths ahead of the V6 twin-turbo, high-downforce Mustang of AJ Hartman.

Race 1 saw Aranha drive away from Rosenberg, who was still dialing in the additional 100 horsepower compared to last year’s setup. Gary Wimble’s No. 11 Corvette and Eric Jensen’s No. 184 LS-powered Scion FR-S traded positions for fourth, while mechanical issues plagued Jordan Wiseley’s KDM Tuners Hyundai Veloster N. Aranha, Rosenberg, and Hartman claimed the podium.

Race 2 saw the top three remain unchanged, though Anthony Scafuto charged from ninth to fifth and Wiseley from 10th to seventh. Mechanical issues ended the weekend for Wimble and Jensen, who parked off-track at Turn 1 to preserve green-flag conditions.

In Race 3, Rosenberg finally broke through for his first GRIDLIFE GT win over Hartman and Aranha, with Chris DeLucia and Jordan Wiseley rounding out the top five.

Race 4 featured a three-car invert with Aranha on pole, but a strong start from DeLucia mixed up the order. Hartman slipped into a narrow lead while Rosenberg gave chase. Hartman held on in his carbon-black Mustang for his first-ever GLGT win after several near-misses in 2025.

Thanks to his consistency, Rosenberg edged Aranha by one point for the weekend and leads the championship over Aranha, Hartman, and DeLucia heading into Round 2.

Matan Rosenberg, Christian Aranha, and Chris DeLucia fight for position on the GRIDLIFE GT Race 4 start.

TrackBattle shatters records

The GRIDLIFE TrackBattle Championship featured nearly 80 cars for Round 1 of the season, with a stacked Unlimited field, strong Street Mod presence, and a 17-car grid for Falken Club TR.

All eyes turned to the No. 606 Louis Gigliotti-built Corvette driven by Allen Patten, rebuilt for Unlimited class after a dominant Track Mod season last year. All weekend long, Patten pushed the limits of the track, car, and driver, inching closer to the 1m30s-and-change track record.

In Heat 6 on Sunday morning, Patten unleashed over 900hp and drove to a new overall track record of 1m28.544s, obliterating the previous benchmark and locking himself into the Podium Sprint. Jimmy Rauck also broke the FWD subdivision Unlimited record with a 1m30.854s in his turbo K20 Civic. Two more records fell in the same session: Street Mod FWD by Will Evans (1m43.315s), and Street AWD by Josh Halka (1m37.897s).

In Podium Sprint, Patten, Jimmy Rauck, and Jeremy Lowder scored podium points over Ernestas Puzelis and Andrius Bertulis.

Track Mod saw Adam Slowinski, in a BMW M4 Competition xDrive, reset the Track Mod AWD record to a 1m34.772s – just 1.1 s off Justin Peachey’s overall class mark from last year in a heavier, less aerodynamic car. Slowinski defeated Chris Boersma, Dallas Reed, Kendall Samuel, and Brad Perkins.

Street Mod belonged to reigning champion Dewey DeWitt, who blasted to a 1m32.310s, smashing the previous record by more than two seconds in his Subaru known as “Boogeyman.” He won over Kal Fortner’s AMG GT-S and fellow Subaru driver Nick Nazzaro.

Luke McGrew then won Street GT with a record-breaking 1m36.886s over an all-Z06 podium featuring Luie Zendejas and Ryan Mathews.

Though Josh Halka’s Street class record was broken earlier in the day, he prevailed in Podium Sprint over Willem Drees in the KDM Tuners Hyundai Elantra N. Drees did score a new FWD track record of 1m41.049s, but it was not enough to dethrone Halka.

Falken Club TR featured an all-star Podium Sprint line-up with Stan Fayngold, Peter Granberg, Jerami Bailey, Mario Mirone, and Patrick Harvey. Mirone was sidelined by electrical issues, but Fayngold reset the class RWD record with a 1m41.311s before taking the win.

Falken Club SC also featured familiar faces, with Mike Janssen, Lennon Radcliffe, and Sam Deuling taking podium positions. David Best and John Laughlin, debuting a 2024 Mini Cooper, completed the top five.

A strong start to 2026

GRIDLIFE South Carolina was a worthy kickoff to the 2026 season across every category, showcasing new and familiar faces continuing to push limits in TrackBattle, four different winners in Eibach GLTC, a strengthening GRIDLIFE GT field, and a record-breaking RUSH Series entry list.

The championship next visits Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in collaboration with Formula Drift, May 7–9, before heading to South Haven, Mich., for GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival, June 12–14.