GRIDLIFE Goes National: RACER TV Partnership Kicks Off at Carolina Motorsports Park

Grassroots motorsport just got a national spotlight. GRIDLIFE's landmark deal with RACER brings wheel-to-wheel racing, time attack, and drift to American television for the first time. The season opens April 17 in Kershaw, South Carolina.

GRIDLIFE on National TV: What the RACER Deal Means

The announcement, made March 26, 2026, is the biggest media moment in GRIDLIFE's history. For the first time, the series will reach an audience well beyond the paddock fence, and more importantly, it will do so for free.

RACER will deliver 120 hours of GRIDLIFE coverage across multiple platforms throughout the 2026 season:

The Sunday cable broadcasts will feature the final races from each of GRIDLIFE's three wheel-to-wheel championships: the Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup, the GRIDLIFE RUSH Series, and GRIDLIFE GT, along with the TrackBattle Podium Sprint, all airing live.

Behind the microphone will be commentator Kyle Heyer, joined by Jacob Gettins, known to motorsport fans from Formula Drift, Drift Masters, and The Outerzone Podcast. Esteemed racing announcer Greg Creamer is expected to return to the booth later in the season. Production returns to Project Priime, the team that launched GRIDLIFE's broadcast operation in 2025, bringing new equipment and an expanded crew for year two.

The 2026 Season Schedule

Who's Coming Back: The 2026 Championship Picture

Every season at GRIDLIFE opens with questions about who carries the target on their back. Heading into South Carolina, there's a clear defending champion in one series, a wide-open title fight in another, and a sophomore season in the third that just got a lot more interesting.

GRIDLIFE RUSH Series: Ryan Leach, Defending Champion

Ryan Leach enters 2026 as the undisputed benchmark after one of the most dominant championship runs in GRIDLIFE history. In 2025, he won 15 of 22 starts, claimed 12 consecutive victories to open the season across Carolina Motorsports Park, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, and Gingerman Raceway, and finished with 443 championship points. His win percentage of 62.5% was higher than Tom O'Gorman's celebrated 2022 GLTC title run.

He won't have it easy in 2026. More than 30 entries are already registered for the South Carolina opener, with more expected. Leading the challengers is Andy Voelkel, the 2025 runner-up who logged 10 podium finishes in 24 starts without a single race win, something he will be looking to correct immediately. Jaylan Battley (#88), who finished seventh in the 2025 championship, also returns with a full season's worth of data and a point to prove.

Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup: A Championship Throne Up for Grabs

The GLTC enters its eighth season of close-quarters competition with its biggest storyline yet: the throne is empty.

Two-time champion Matan Rosenberg won the 2025 title after one of the closest fights in series history, a season so tightly contested that the championship went down to the final rounds. But Rosenberg won't be back to defend. He's moving up to compete in GRIDLIFE GT, leaving the GLTC without its most decorated active champion. As part of Eibach's 75th anniversary celebration, he'll also earn a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Nürburgring.

That opens the door for 2025 runner-up Eric Kutil, who enters 2026 as an early championship favorite in his #82 Honda Civic Ferio. Kutil is part of a deep returning field that includes Eric Magnussen (#3 BMW M3), Matt Waldbaum (#90 ASM Honda S2000), Carlos Mendez (Condor Speed Shop #83 BMW), Tom Panzarella (1989 Volkswagen GTI), and Brian Santiago (#23 Ford Focus ST), among others. New full-time entrant Matthew Ibrahim of Garagistic joins in a #600 BMW 325i, and Aryton Grim, just 16 years old, makes his debut in a 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata. Grids exceeding 30 cars are expected at nearly every round.

GRIDLIFE GT: Sophomore Season, Toyo Tires, and a Stacked Field

GRIDLIFE GT returns for its second full season with a defending champion, a loaded returning field, and major new support behind it. Hans Horpedahl comes back to defend the 2025 title he won in the series' debut year, with AJ Hartman, last year's runner-up in a twin-turbo EcoBoost Mustang, among the first in line to challenge him.

Other returning competitors include Alex Peitz (C8 Corvette), Chris DeLucia (BMW M3), and Aaron Leichty (Corvette). New entries shake up the field further: Erik Meadows steps up from the GLTC in a Chevrolet Corvette, Jack Haddix joins in a 2006 BMW 330i, and Jordan Wiseley pilots the KDM Tuners #7 Hyundai Veloster N, the only front-wheel-drive entry in a field otherwise dominated by rear-wheel-drive machinery. And then there's Matan Rosenberg, stepping up from the GLTC where he won back-to-back titles, immediately making himself one of the most experienced and dangerous drivers on the grid.

Toyo Tires joins as the official spec tire supplier for 2026, with all competitors running the Toyo Proxes R in dry conditions. Any Toyo tire is permitted during wet sessions. The contingency program offers nearly $1,000 in Toyo Bucks for race winners in fields of 25 or more starters. The series also expands its FireLaps telemetry integration into all broadcasts, streaming real-time speed, G-force, and AI coaching data directly into the GRIDLIFE Live feed.

TrackBattle Time Attack: Seven Classes, One Clock, and a Loaded Grid

TrackBattle is one of the most genuinely open competition platforms in American motorsport, with seven classes ranging from daily-driven street cars to full-tilt aero weapons, all racing against the clock on the same circuit in the same weekend. And heading into South Carolina, the 2026 grid is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in the series' history.

Three defending class champions are back with targets on their backs. Mike Janssen returns to defend his Falken Club SC title, a championship he wrapped up so convincingly in 2025 that he left the Pitt Race season finale mid-weekend to attend a wedding, came back Sunday morning, set a new track record at 2:09.505, and still won the Podium Sprint. Dewey DeWitt brings his dominant Street Mod campaign into 2026 after a season that included four wins and four track records. And Luke McGrew, the 2025 Street GT champion in his #717 Chevrolet Corvette, returns looking to repeat while also competing in the GLTC championship.

The Falken Club TR class is set for a particularly deep fight. Mario Mirone, Evan McLaren, Stan Fayngold, Kevin Vue, and Jerami Bailey, who stunned the Club TR field at CMP last year with a last-lap move to win by half a tenth in his FA24-swapped Scion FR-S, all return to battle for supremacy in one of TrackBattle's tightest class battles.

Track Mod gets an interesting dynamic with Brad Perkins stepping back in after a runner-up season in 2024, joined by class regulars Justin Peachey and Chris Boersma. Also crossing over from the GLTC paddock: Austin Hertel will debut a brand-new Chevrolet Corvette C8 in time attack competition, joining Luke McGrew in what amounts to a pair of fresh C8s tackling CMP's course for the first time. Among the other podium-tested names expected on the entry list: Jimmy Rauck and Allen Patten, both drivers with multiple class wins in recent seasons.

The stakes are higher in 2026 too. Season podium prizing has been expanded to include Street, Street GT, and Street Mod competitors, with total championship awards exceeding $40,000 across the season, the richest TrackBattle prize pool to date.

The Podium Sprint, the head-to-head knockout format where the three fastest qualifiers in each class go wheel-to-wheel for the class win, will air live on RACER's cable channel on Sunday afternoon. For a discipline that has historically lived in the paddock and on laptops, national television is a significant moment.

The Weekend Experience at CMP

GRIDLIFE South Carolina isn't just a racing event. For three days, Carolina Motorsports Park transforms into what the series describes as a "high-energy playground": wheel-to-wheel racing, time attack, full-course drifting, skidpad sessions, and a car show pulling builds from across the region.

Drivers, vendors, VIP, and early entry ticket holders can enter Thursday, April 16. Music runs throughout the weekend, headlined by Sullivan King, with CHYL, Jake Panda, and more rounding out the lineup.

For anyone who has never been to a GRIDLIFE event, the South Carolina opener is the right one to start with. It's the smallest and most accessible venue on the calendar, the entry fields are competitive without being impenetrable to newer fans, and the atmosphere, especially Night Drift under the lights, is unlike anything else in American motorsport right now.

That it will now reach a national audience for the first time is exactly the kind of milestone the series has earned.

GRIDLIFE South Carolina runs April 17–19 at Carolina Motorsports Park. Watch live on RACER+, RACER Select, YouTube, and Facebook. Or better yet, go.