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Team Falken Triumphs At GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends Festival

SALISBURY, CT – Team Falken delivered another superb performance at the GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends Festival. This event was hosted in Lime Rock Park, a circular 1.5-mile track filled with elevation changes. Lime Rock Park looks deceivingly simple, featuring seven turns that contain only one true left turn. However, it is a challenging track to win on and punishes drivers who underestimate it. Several competitors crashed throughout the entirety of the event while trying to push the limits. Team drivers Luca Barberis and James Houghton managed to swiftly navigate the tricky Lime Rock Park and earned 1st place finishes in Street Class and GLTC respectively.

Over at Street Class, Luca Barberis competed at Lime Rock Park for the first time. Barberis did his due diligence as a new driver on an unfamiliar track and signed up for the Test and Tune Day on Thursday to learn the layout and conditions of the track. He was able to get familiar with the track in his Mitsubishi Evolution equipped with Falken Azenis RT660 tires.

“The track sure is tricky and demands a lot of commitment,” said Barberis. “On several high-speed corners, all you can rely on are the tires collaborating with the track surface. This fresh set of RT660s sure held up to the task and I felt confident chucking my car into the uphill and downhill sections and knew I could count on their grip!”

Luca’s time attack event at Lime Rock Park was a smooth experience. After his practice session, Luca confidently went into this race with the goal of breaking Joe Mielke’s class record for the course. Luca managed to reset the track record at the beginning of the event, however, Mielke was able to defend it and reclaim it shortly after. The record was broken again by Luca, who was faster by three-tenths of a second and secured the overall victory for the race. After this race, Luca has completed a perfect season with 4 wins and 4 track records and continues to hold his overall first place position in Street Class.

With 59 competitors in a wheel-to-wheel racing format on a small track, the GLTC race was a challenging event for all competitors. Team Falken Driver James Houghton, was eager and confident going into this Circuit Legends Festival event because of his successful history on the track. James and his Acura TSX equipped with Falken Azenis RT660s found his groove in a grueling qualifying round, finishing in P2 with less than a tenth of a second behind P1, earning him a starting spot in 2nd place to start the first race.

Houghton started off the first race with a skillful maneuver to take the lead. He noticed that the competitor in 1st place chose to enter the inside line on the first turn, so he took advantage of the opportunity and was able to navigate on the outside line to make a pass. The small distance of the track made Houghton’s lead difficult to maintain as it was being contested lap after lap throughout the race. James came out on top of the battles and secured a 1st place finish and a start in P1 for the second race.

As the competitor starting up front for the second race, Houghton had the choice to attack the first turn with either the inside line or outside line. As a taste of his own medicine, James mistakenly took the inside line and got passed on the outside by Matan Rosenberg. Houghton trailed Rosenberg and his Chevrolet Corvette the whole race by 1 second and finished in P2.

The third race featured another blunder on the first turn made by the competitor starting in P1. Rosenberg made the same mistake that Houghton repeated and took the inside line on turn 1, allowing Houghton to make a pass on the outside yet again. This race featured a fierce battle for 1st place between Houghton and Rosenberg. Houghton raced defensively and maintained his lead by taking middle lines throughout the track.

“This was the most intense battle yet, but I never lost the lead,” recalled Houghton. “There were multiple side-by-side moments in this race, but I was able to make it out up front for an incredible and satisfying win.”

GLTC’s final race features an inverted starting grid instead of starting the order based off the last race’s finishes. James knew it was going to be problematic to pass at Lime Rock Park due to its trickiness, so he played it safe this race. Houghton lost a couple of positions on the first turn at the start of the race and was not able to make another pass. His decision to play it safe solidified when Rosenberg unfortunately suffered from an incident during the race which led to a DNF. Houghton decided to not make any high-risk decisions to finish the race and finished in P9, resulting in an overall win for the event. This race improves James’ overall points position from 4th to 2nd place in this open 200-treadwear class with 290 points.

The next event will be GRIDLIFE Chicagoland, which will be held at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois on September 14, 2024.