Round 5 of our GLTC schedule brought us back to Road America for the Summer Apex, Gridlife's flagship event.

While Road America is one of my favorite tracks in iRacing, it didn't click with me the first time I raced there in 2024. Furthermore, before this event, I had two tough finishes at Gingerman and Mid-Ohio, where I faced numerous mechanical issues and scored no points in either weekend.

Pre-event Synopsis

After Mid-Ohio, I had a working car again, but a growing suspicion that there was a fundamental handling discrepancy with our E90s, and flaws in the GLTC rulebook that render our cars uncompetitive. Since we had no power over the latter, Carlos and I turned to working on the car's setup to try to achieve higher cornering speeds.

Carlos discovered some bump steer issues with his car and documented them in a riveting guest article for RE.

We didn't find anything wrong with my car, per se, but after doing a lot of research and polling racers that I trust, it became apparent that my car was over-sprung, especially the rear end.

With only a few short weeks between Mid-Ohio and Road America, we weren't able to complete the full wish-list of repairs and upgrades. However, Curtis was able to install new, softer springs, reinstall the rear sway bar, tweak the alignment, and refresh all the fluids.

After hundreds of practice laps in iRacing the previous week, I arrived in Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon, brimming with hope that the new spring rates would be the ticket to better results. Carlos was running the test day that I opted to sit out, so I helped out with his car and did some final prep on my own before practice and qualifying on Friday.

Race Report

To cut to the chase, my car felt great in practice and qualifying. I was considerably faster than the year before, when I had a best time of 2:37.x and a best finish of P31. In practice, I ran a 2:35.x, and in qualifying pulled off a 2:33.9. The time was good for P20 and just ahead of Carlos in P21. While Carlos's car was handling well, a dyno test showed it was down on power, something not resolved until after the first race on Saturday.

Though the field was smaller this year, it was more competitive. In a deeper 2024 field, our qualifying times would have been further up the grid than they were this year. Nevertheless, I was feeling confident in the car. Though I wish it had a bit more rotation, it finally had the mechanical grip I'd been chasing since I first drove it in 2023.

Having been proud of my racecraft at Mid-Ohio, I carried that competitive drive into Road America, and the results showed. I moved up through the field in three of the four races, with arguably my worst finish being in the same position that I started (Race 2).

My favorite race was Race 4. I started in P13 near Carlos, and, given the ongoing battles up front, we stayed with the front pack for much of the race. I ran as high as P9 and had a battle with Louis Chatroop on the last lap that temporarily put me outside the top 10. Though he cleared past me in the last corner, I had a better exit speed that helped me pass him back before the finish line to secure my second top-10 finish of the 2025 season. Check out the video of this race below!

Race 4 Video with Commentary

Let me know if you enjoy these narrated race videos

Weekend Result

Qualified: P20 (2:33.9)
Race 1: P16 (started P20)
Race 2: P16 (started P16)
Race 3: P12 (started P21)
Race 4: P10 (started P13)

(my relatively slow lap time in race 2 moved me back in the grid for race 3, setting me up to charge forward nine positions in that race)

Summary & Future Outlook

Though Carlos was burnt out by the down-to-the-wire engine build and the extremely long haul from South Florida, our strong finishes at Road America reinvigorated us both.

Our hard work was paying off with top-10 finishes based on merit, not just on circumstance.

The next race on the schedule, Lime Rock Park, was one of our favorite tracks of 2024. That said, it's much more of a "handling" track than Road America is, and not as well-suited to our cars as RA was, given its relatively high top speeds.

With the Condor team hauler staying up north between the two events, we weren't able to make any changes or upgrades ahead of LRP. Thankfully, both cars left RA mechanically sound and mostly ready to race.

Special thanks to the entire Condor Speed Shop race team, ROWE Motor Oils, HRE Wheels, Motorsport Hardware, TortSport USA, and CRC Brakleen for your support of our 2025 GLTC race program.