GRIDLIFE Laguna entry list packed with variety for season finale

With most of GRIDLIFE’s championships wrapped up for the year, GRIDLIFE Laguna is less about crowning champions and more about a West Coast celebration of speed and style. More than 220 cars are entered across GRIDLIFE’s five motorsports disciplines, including over 80 in GRIDLIFE TrackBattle and 50 in the GRIDLIFE RUSH Series.

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca has always produced a different kind of GRIDLIFE event. The California venue draws a mix of local competitors, unusual machinery, and cars that rarely make the trip east, creating an entry list that looks unlike anything else on the six-round calendar. With the famous Corkscrew waiting at the end of the famous Rahal Straight, the season finale should provide plenty of reasons to watch even with several championships already decided.

Unique cars dot the TrackBattle entry list

Historically, Laguna Seca draws a very different field from what most GRIDLIFE fans are used to, and 2026 is no exception. The Unlimited class still features several drivers fighting for the season championship, including Mike Dusold’s 1967 Chevrolet Camaro and Jeremy Lowder’s 2019 ZL1 Camaro, but they’ll share the paddock with some of the most unusual machinery on the entry list.

Lief Storer is bringing out his Fastish Racing 2009 Nissan GT-R, a 900-horsepower, all-wheel-drive track monster, while David Hackl’s 1983 Audi Quattro looks like it drove straight out of the 1980s and onto the modern GRIDLIFE grid. 

Joining Hackl from Pikes Peak fame are three other cars with pedigree from America’s Mountain, Tom Tang, Codie Vahshotlz, and Scott Birdsall. The latter two are expected to run in the Super Unlimited category, open to any vehicle even without a VIN (the limiting factor for an Unlimited class car). It is exactly the kind of variety that has become a hallmark of the Laguna finale, where the entry list often feels more like an eclectic collection from Forza Horizon 6 than a traditional championship field.

Track Mod’s 14-car field continues the theme, ranging from a 2008 Honda Civic Si on big tires to a pair of Porsche 911 GT3s, another Nissan GT-R, and Anthony Guardanapo III’s 2017 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang. The GT350’s high-revving 5.2-liter Voodoo V8 makes a distinctive flat-plane crank scream, just one of many great engine noises fans can look forward to climbing up towards the corkscrew.

Street Mod is even larger, with a near-record 19 cars entered. The SDC Racing Team makes up nearly a third of the field, bringing a collection of Toyota GR Supras, a BMW M4 Coupe, and a GR86 to a class that has already produced some of the fastest lap times of the season outside of Unlimited.

Street GT is similarly stacked, with nearly 20 cars. Focused on minimally modified high-displacement machinery, the class has been dominated by C6-generation Corvette Z06s throughout much of 2026. Laguna’s entry list breaks that pattern, with BMW M, Porsche, Ford, Toyota, and Chevrolet all represented. With the championship already decided, the focus for these drivers shifts to Sunday’s Podium Sprint and the opportunity to close out the season at one of North America’s most recognizable circuits.

Street will be chasing Willem Drees in the KDM Tuners Hyundai Elantra N, while Rafael Guerrero’s Mazda RX-7 and Luke Lederman’s Porsche 718 Cayman add even more variety to the class.

Falken Club TR is typically the best-attended TrackBattle class, but the makeup of the West Coast field has left it with just a half dozen drivers this year. Among them is season runner-up Jerami Bailey, making his first West Coast appearance in the No.13 Scion FR-S. Cory Smith, Jared Ramirez, Jason Mulderig, Gary Yeung, and Patrick Harvey join him.

Then there is the mystery surrounding Claude Grosjean’s entry: a 2007 Porsche Cayman R suspiciously carrying the No.511, a number belonging to this year’s provisional class champion, Peter Granberg. Grosjean has no recorded history in GRIDLIFE competition, making the Cayman one of the weekend’s most intriguing unknowns before the first cars roll onto the track.

Falken Club SC has already crowned Mike Janssen its champion after another dominant season, but the reigning titleholder is still making the trip west for a potential victory lap against David Best and Sam Deuling. Local competitors TJ Keon, Joseph Villa, and Luis Paez join the field in a Mazda MX-5, Mini Cooper, and Honda Fit respectively.

GLTC brings the championship regulars to California

Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup brings a 30-car field to Laguna Seca, combining familiar championship contenders with a substantial group of local competitors looking to take on the regulars.

Eric Kutil, Matt Waldbaum, Andy Smedegard, Michael Hillo, Dai Nguyen, Peter Zhang, and more are making the trip west, while several California-based drivers are ready to challenge them on home turf. Last year, BMW drivers Justin Moore, Larry Moore, Tony Rodriguez, and Joe McGuigan all ran inside the top 10 at Laguna, and their teams, Edge Motorworks and Magic Developed, account for nine of the 30 currently registered entrants.

Sergio Orestes is also back for another attempt after putting his Toyota GR86 inside the top 15 during his first Eibach GLTC weekend.

The field will run separately from GRIDLIFE GT this year, unlike 2025, when the two series shared a multi-class format. That gives GLTC drivers a little more room to fight their own battles around Laguna Seca, while giving the local competitors a direct opportunity to measure themselves against one of GRIDLIFE’s most competitive sprint racing series. 

Kutil’s entry in his No.82 Hybrid Racing EG is slightly unexpected – while he had originally planned to make the trek out to California, a penalty at Circuit Legends last month took him out of the running for the title. However, Kutil plans to park his popular Civic after this season in favor of a new build, an Accord, set up for GRIDLIFE GT – so for many fans, this may be their one and only chance to see one of GRIDLIFE’s legendary cars up close.

GRIDLIFE GT heads west with a new mix of cars

GRIDLIFE GT’s 14-car field is similarly split between series regulars and local talent. Anthony Scafuto returns to competition in his Z28 Camaro after skipping Circuit Legends, bringing a car that has seen significant development since it appeared at Laguna in close-to-stock form in 2025.

Reigning Eibach GLTC champion and GRIDLIFE GT championship leader Matan Rosenberg is also entered in his No.484 Chevrolet Corvette. Rosenberg enters the finale with the opportunity to put the finishing touches on a season-long championship fight, while Christian Aranha will not make the trip to California to challenge him for the title.

The rest of the field offers plenty of variety. Gamaliel Aguilar-Gamez enters a 2020 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, the only Porsche currently registered in the class, while the Black Flag Sarcoma Racing team had hoped to return with Charles Spence still listed on the entry list.

With the championship picture largely settled, Laguna provides an opportunity for these cars to share the circuit without the pressure of a six-round points battle. For some, it is the final chance of the year to put a result on the board; for others, it is a chance to see what a new car or development direction can do against the established front-runners.

RUSH brings 50 cars to the season finale

The GRIDLIFE RUSH Series once again has an entry list more than four dozen deep, with 50 cars currently registered to race Saturday and Sunday.

Bryce Mersberger has built a commanding championship lead during a season that has seen him rack up 10 wins and 14 podiums in 19 starts, but the finale will still feature plenty of familiar names at the front of the field. After missing Circuit Legends, Ryan Leach returns for the final round to go up against James French, Blair Hosie, Andy Voelkel, and the rest of the massive RUSH grid.

The combination of a 50-car field and Laguna Seca’s compact 2.238-mile layout should make qualifying particularly important. With traffic, passing, and track position all at a premium, the RUSH races are likely to produce some of the busiest sessions of the weekend.

And while Mersberger has already put himself in position to take the championship, the rest of the field has plenty to fight for. The final race weekend of the year is a chance for drivers to finish a season on a high note, settle unfinished battles, and put their names on the Laguna Seca results sheet alongside some of the biggest names in GRIDLIFE.

The GRIDLIFE season ends at the Corkscrew

Championships may be winding down, but the exciting entry list is just a preview of a spectacular finale event. Championship contenders share the paddock with local drivers, professional-level builds, unusual road cars, and machines that simply do not fit anywhere else on the GRIDLIFE schedule.

GRIDLIFE Laguna takes over WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca September 18–20. Tickets are available now, with three days of racing, GRIDLIFE TrackBattle, Eibach GLTC, GRIDLIFE GT, RUSH, and more bringing the 2026 season to its conclusion at historic WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Click here to get tickets, and here to check out the event schedule. Catch the broadcast here.