Cole Loftsgard made it a clean sweep at Sebring International Raceway this morning, finishing fastest in the combined practice results, taking pole position in qualifying, and winning both races in the Ford Mustang Challenge opening event.
While Loftsgard’s #42 Round 3 Racing car went uncontested through 45 minutes for the win in Race 1, the American driver had his work cut out for him in Race 2. Starting from third position, Loftsgard saw Michael Tosi in the #77 and Devin Anderson in the #22 get a noticeably better start into Turn 1, while Sandy Satullo, driving the #7 Wheelhouse Motorsports car in fourth, challenged for Loftgard’s spot.
As rookie Tosi and series veteran Anderson were scuffling for the lead, Satullo and Loftsgard ran door to door for nearly an entire lap, Loftsgard holding onto third position at the end of the battle. After Anderson rubbed some of the paint off the back of Tosi’s #77 Wheelhouse Motorsport Dark Horse R with the nose of his Mustang, Tosi had to jerk his steering wheel to stay on track, losing time and allowing Loftsgard to join the party.
The nose of the #42 Round 3 Racing was never far away in Devin Anderson’s rear-view mirror, putting on the pressure for over 10 minutes before rising to second position with 20 minutes remaining. Satullo and Anderson fought behind while Loftsgard reeled in the leading #77 of Michael Tosi.
With 16 minutes remaining, Loftsgard made a bold move, going side by side in Turns 16 and 17 and taking the lead before opening up a two-second gap to the second-place car at the chequered flag.
“It was great to win here at Sebring in the Mustang Dark Horse R,” said Loftsgard. “I knew coming into the weekend that we had a chance to be competitive, but we didn’t expect this. Round 3 Racing did a phenomenal job, and credit goes to them for making our debut so great.”
The Tosi’s #77 Wheelhouse Motorsports car held on to claim his second P2 finish of the weekend, an excellent result for the series rookie. Devin Anderson brought home a third-place finish in his #22 TechSport Racing car. Wheelhouse Motorsports teammates Sandy Satullo and Will Lucas finished fourth and fifth in the #7 and #34 Dark Horse Rs, respectively.
In Dark Horse Legends, Alex Bachoura raced for 45 minutes on old qualifying tyres, but still dominated his class, finishing first in DHL and taking a sixth position overall finish in the army-green #33 Spark Performance machine.
With an impressive double victory, he walks away from Mustang Challenge – to spend more time with family – in style.
Chris Clarke in the #9 Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing car finished second in Race 2, one place better than Race 1, and this time with a much closer margin to Bachoura. Tom Tait finished P3 in the #8 Wheelhouse Motorsport car.
Lou Gigliotti was the only retiree of the race in the #28 G2 Motorsports car around the 20-minute mark of the race. Bruce Griffin did not compete in either race this week after a big incident in Practice 2 on Wednesday damaged the car beyond repair.
In addition to Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley taking part in this week’s Mustang Challenge races, Edsel B Ford II was also on-site to soak up the action.
“It was great to watch the race and present the trophies,” Ford II said. “This is the first time I’ve been able to come to a racetrack to see the Mustang Challenge, to see our Ford Racing Mustang GT4 race car, and to visit with our Mustang GT3 teams. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
The next round of the 2026 Ford Mustang Challenge will take place at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, May 1-3.
Images courtesy of Ford Racing
