Back to Lime Rock
Back to our favorite event of the year—the beautiful Lime Rock Park, tucked into the hills of Lakeville, Connecticut. Circuit Legends is always one of the highlights of the season, bringing together some of the best cars in the Northeast at one of America’s most historic racetracks.
Deep in the championship fight, we knew this weekend could make or break our title hopes. We arrived early and eager to get to work.
With years of setup data on hand, we immediately began moving the car away from the setup we ran at Watkins Glen. Lime Rock’s tight, fast nature rewards lightweight cars that can carry momentum, especially through the quick Turns 2, 3 and 4 leading toward the Uphill.
Eric fought understeer through this section, so we adjusted the sway bar and ride height to make the car more compliant and give him the rotation he needed.
Qualifying
With only one short practice session before qualifying, we knew we needed to get the setup right quickly. Otherwise, we’d be fighting the car—and the wrong battles—for the rest of the weekend.
The understeer was more manageable, but the balance still wasn’t where Eric wanted it, leaving us deep in the 58-second range for much of the session. A quick pit-lane adjustment to the rear ride height helped unlock some additional pace, allowing Eric to fight his way to P4 on the grid.
It was going to be close. Less than half a second separated us from the leader.
Race 1
Starting fourth put us on the second row, directly behind the championship leader.
Eric fought off Waldbaum to move into third and began chasing down the leaders. Deep into the race, a clutch move opened the door for Eric to get past Smedegard and into second place.
We crossed the line P2, while EMag took another victory and continued to strengthen his championship position.
Race 2
Friday evening gave us some time to rethink our setup direction. Ultimately, we moved the car back toward our 2025 Lime Rock setup, with a few additional tweaks based on what we had learned so far.
The changes worked.
Combined with cooler morning temperatures, Eric found considerably more pace. We finished P2 and set a new GLTC lap record, earning Pole Position for Race 3.
EMag would win again, though, adding another victory to his championship lead and putting even more pressure on us heading into the final two races.
Race 3
With our grip on the championship title loosening, we knew we needed to put the Super Touring Sedan on the top step to keep our hopes alive.
Eric started from Pole Position, but an early move from Smedegard dropped us back to second. From there, we held position to the finish, with a final-lap move from EMag putting him directly behind us in third.
At this stage of the championship, second place wasn’t enough. We needed wins.
Shortly after the race, however, GRIDLIFE officials informed us that Smedegard had been disqualified following an over-power instance on the compliance dyno. That promoted us to P1 and gave us the Race 3 victory, keeping our championship hopes alive.
Eric then rolled the dice on the invert for Race 4. The result put Barbado on Pole, EMag in second and us in third.
Everything would come down to the final race.
Race 4
It was all to play for.
We knew this would be our final opportunity to keep the championship fight alive. Starting directly behind EMag was always going to be a challenge, but having Barbado out front had the potential to keep the field close and give us an opportunity.
Within the opening laps, EMag found his way past Barbado, and Eric soon followed. The two championship contenders began pulling away from the rest of the field, setting up a head-to-head fight for the win.
EMag put his M3 in all the right places, making it extremely difficult for Eric to find a way through. We had the advantage through the corners, but the torque of the M3 allowed EMag to stretch the gap just enough on the straights to keep Eric out of reach.
It all came down to the final lap.
Eric had overlap coming out of Turn 2, but as the pair approached Turn 3, the door closed and the two cars made contact.
EMag spun, while Eric was forced to slow to avoid further contact. That gave Barbado the opportunity to catch and pass us. Eric crossed the line in P2, while EMag recovered to finish third.
The End of the Championship Fight
Racing is racing. When the stakes are high and a championship is on the line, drivers are going to be aggressive. Eric was aggressive in trying to make the move, while EMag was aggressive in defending his position.
Ultimately, the stewards determined that Eric was responsible for the contact and issued a 10-position penalty, dropping us from P2 to P12 in the final results.
Even with the penalty, we had done enough across the weekend to finish second overall at Circuit Legends. More importantly, though, the result mathematically eliminated us from contention for the 2026 GLTC Championship.
It’s a disappointing way for the title fight to end, especially after everything that went into getting ourselves into championship contention this season. But that’s racing.
With the championship now out of reach, our focus shifts to the season finale at Laguna Seca. Rather than chasing points, we’ll use the opportunity to experiment, gather valuable data and start laying the groundwork for the 2027 season.
There’s still one more race weekend to go—and plenty left to learn.