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Kal Fortner is using EBC Brakes Racing’s sintered brake pads on his Mercedes track car

Kal Fortner is competing in the 2026 season of Gridlife in the USA, using his Mercedes AMG GTS as weapon of choice.

The driver is utilising EBC Brakes Racing’s SR-21™ sintered endurance motorsport brake pads to ensure stopping power is optimal in his super-coupe.

Following a podium finish at Grid Life Carolina and more podiums in Atlanta, we next caught up with Fortner off the back of his latest round at the iconic Watkins Glen in New York State.

Read how it panned out in his own words below…

“After waiting thre years for Gridlife’s return to Watkins Glen, I was itching to get back out on this legendary track! Back in 2023, not only did I secure the Streetmod record, I was fastest overall as well, so I knew that this was going to be a strong weekend for us. Although this weekend got off to a rocky start after needing to do a spark plug change after session 1 and missing the second session of the day, I quickly found pace by the third session and went right into P1 to end day one! Right away I was able to lean into my SR-21™ pads as well as a brand new set of EBC’s floating two-piece rotors on the Mercedes and I was able to carry 170mph going into the bus stop!”

“By day two, I was able to set a new Streetmod RWD record with a 1:58.8! This put us in 2nd by only a tenth, as well as only a tenth from the overall Streetmod record! Some tracks just click with not only the car but the driver as well, and for me, this is one of those tracks. Every lap just felt like a flow state, where I had the confidence to really extract everything out of the car and the confidence to use the entire track all the way up to the walls. I knew we had a fighting chance at victory here.”

“Going into day 3, I was met with track conditions that were not quite what I was expecting, after rain the night before, the track didn’t have nearly as much peak grip as the day before. Because of this I wasn’t able to reset my record, however I was able to secure yet another podium finish coming in P2 right behind Eric Dewitt – another EBC driver! That’s four podiums in a row this year and yet another EBC front-row lockout! This puts us in a healthy championship position of P2 going into the next round at Lime Rock Park and I’m looking forward to continuing this momentum…”

Connect with Kal Fortner for more news and information:

SR-21™ Race and Endurance Pads

A variation of SR-11™ that offers ultra-high friction and is targeted for the front and rear of race cars with bias controls only. SR bites harder and lasts longer.

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