GRIDLIFE Touring Cup Takes Center Stage at Midwest Festival
Wild weather appears. No rain or hail in this storm, but the winds were 60+mph. RIP pop-up tents.

Following Race 3, a storm rolled in off Lake Michigan during the drift sessions that left everyone looking to take cover. This storm was unlike anything that anyone had expected, and dozens of pop-up canopies met their demise as the winds rolled through. Drift drivers didn’t care about the weather, and were ready to head back out onto the track as soon as the track was cleared again.

Trackside broadcast experienced a bit of delay because of some crazy weather.
Tuttell took the green flag for the last race of the weekend.

The final race of the weekend was going to be an interesting one. The starting grid was determined based on the finished position of race 3 with one exception, top 6 inverted! That meant Tuttell won the GLTC lotto and started on pole with Alessandrini in 2nd. Kutil and Kelly had some work to do, staring 5th and 6th respectively.

Former time attack driver, turned w2w racer Charlie Ensslin drives “Klap Trap” K24-Fit for Hard Times Racing. Before pro-racer Tom O’Gorman sold this car to Charlie, the time attack champions competed with it in a 14h Champ Car Race at Daytona. The video from that race is worth seeing.

The side by side action was intense for the first couple of laps with the front pack, except for Tuttell,  jockeying for position. Tuttell was able to use his v8 torque and extend his lead early. Kutil who was more efficient in traffic was able to make his way up to 2nd while Kelly was held up by Alessandrini and Manouchehri battling for 3rd. By the 3rd lap, Kutil was able to reel in Tuttell and make a pass for the lead with a great run out of turn 11. A couple of laps later, Kelly finally made his way up to 2nd but with a large gap to the leader as a result. Kelly put his foot down and went into chase mode running consistent low 39s earning the GLTC track record as a result. He had the car and skill to catch Kutil but the laps were counting down. Although Kutil was able to match Kelly’s pace a few laps, the gap shrunk to less than a second with one lap to go. Once lapped traffic got involved in the final corners, the gap was completed erased with Kelly right on Kutil’s bumper going down the back straight.

Kelly chased Kutil for multiple laps in race 4. He was barely edged out as they both crossed the finish line.

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