2025 Gridlife GLTC Weekend — Gingerman Raceway

The 2025 Gridlife GLTC weekend at Gingerman Raceway promised to be a challenging test of driver resilience and teamwork. With its mix of fast sweepers and technical corners, Gingerman requires precise car setup and consistent execution. Piloting the BMW E90s, Carlos Mendez and Thomas Lathrop showed steady progress and consistency across four sprint races.

Mendez faced a tough start after being disqualified from the qualifying session due to a
technical infraction with his compliance paperwork, forcing him to begin Race 1 in P40, the back of the field. From there, he worked his way up the field, making up 16 spots and finishing P24 in Race 1. In Race 2, he set his fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:41.803, making up 10 spots and finishing in P14. The Race 3 grid was based on lap time, starting Mendez mid-pack in P26. He managed to navigate through the traffic to finish P18. Mendez wrapped up the weekend with a strong P14 finish in Race 4, completing a steady run of top-25 finishes.

Thomas qualified P31 and showed steady improvement, finishing P28 and P23 in the first two races, while setting a personal best lap of 1:42.205 in Race 2. Unfortunately, he experienced a mechanical failure during Race 3—a harmonic balancer issue—that caused him to drop back to P36. The crew scrambled to get his car ready, but unfortunately, Thomas did not start for Race 4 to prevent further damage. Despite the setback, Thomas showed improvement in both pace and race craft in those first 2 races.

Event Recap

Qualifying:

• Carlos Mendez: Disqualified from qualifying due to a technical infraction, starting Race 1 from P41.
• Thomas Lathrop: Qualified P31 out of a competitive 40-car field, setting the stage for a  weekend of climbing.

Race 1 Results

• Carlos Mendez: Gained 17 spots to finish P24, fighting through traffic with clean passes
  and composure.
• Thomas Lathrop: Finished P28, showing steady pace and avoiding early-race chaos.

Race 2 Results

• Carlos Mendez: Kept the momentum going with a strong P14 finish and laid down a fast lap of 1:41.803, demonstrating top-20 pace.
• Thomas Lathrop: Finished P23 and clocked a personal weekend best with a fast lap of 1:42.205, showing pace and progress.
  

Race 3 Results

• Carlos Mendez: Started around P26 due to the re-grid and battled to P18, navigating a chaotic mid-pack fight.
• Thomas Lathrop: Ran strong early but suffered a harmonic balancer failure, causing  him to lose power and fall back, ultimately finishing P36.

Race 4 Results

• Carlos Mendez: Closed the weekend strong with another clean drive to P14, capping a successful rebound from the back of the field.
  
• Thomas Lathrop: Did not start due to the mechanical issue discovered in Race 3.

Team Condor worked efficiently throughout the weekend to prepare the cars for Gingerman Raceway’s technical track layout. Their changes focused on increasing front-end grip and overall stability, which allowed both drivers to drive consistent laps. The crew also managed quick repairs and setup adjustments between the long gaps of the scheduled sprint races, ensuring reliability and consistent performance.

Thank You to Our Sponsors and Team

Condor Speed Shop continues to be grateful for the support of our incredible sponsors: ROWE  USA, HRE Wheels, Motorsport Hardware, and its dedicated crew members. Our success at Gingerman would not have been possible without this great team behind us.

Looking ahead 

The team is focused on the next round at Mid-Ohio, aiming to build on the progress made at Gingerman with stronger qualifying results and improved finishes.