In what is sure to be an exciting final round of the Mustang Challenge North America season, 15 Mustang Dark Horse Rs head to the Circuit of the Americas this weekend for two 45-minute sprint races to decide the championship.
Accompanying the World Endurance Championship in Austin, Texas, for the third year in a row, COTA is set to crown new Dark Horse class victors after Robert Noaker swept the weekend in 2025 and split victories with Trenton Estep in 2024.
Cole Loftsgard of Round 3 Racing leads the Dark Horse championship by 170 points over Devin Anderson in his rookie season, having taken seven victories in ten total races this year. However, with a maximum of 350 points up for grabs for a race win, Loftsgard’s driver’s championship bid is not locked in just yet.
Devin Anderson with TechSport Racing has continued to show his quality this season, taking a breakout victory at Laguna Seca and again at Mid-Ohio. The Ford driver development team member finished the 2025 season in second position behind two-time series champion Robert Noaker, but with a gap of over 1000 points, out of touch with the Robert Noaker Racing team driver.
Alongside the championship rivals on this weekend’s entry list are reigning VIR victor Will Lucas and teammate Sandy Satullo, currently sitting fourth and third in the standings, respectively. The two Wheelhouse Racing drivers had an excellent weekend last time out, with three podiums in two races between the two of them. The Wheelhouse drivers look to carry this momentum into a track which they are both familiar with, with Lucas making his series debut at this round last season.
Tate Pritt with Automatic Racing and Ryan Persing with Paley Motorsports with AAG Racing return once again, as well as Colin Harrison in the #21 TechSport Racing, and Ethan Low in the #25 Flying Lion Motorsports machine.
Justin Gravett will make his Mustang Challenge debut at his home track, racing in the #18 car with TechSport Racing, sporting a “Tunnels to Towers Foundation” sponsorship, an organisation that supports veterans and those affected by the tragedy on September 11, 2001. The Texas native has experience in TC America and the Mazda MX-5 Cup series.
In Dark Horse Legends, Tom Tait in the #8 Wheelhouse Motorsports car arrives in Austin with an 180-point lead over Chris Clarke in the #9 Paley Motorsports car with AAG Racing. The two title contenders had a weekend to forget at VIR, with Chris Clarke retiring in both races and Tom Tait finishing second in Race 1 and retiring in Race 2. They hope to fight for the class win this weekend after Oleg Gorshkov swept the previous four races.
Gorshkov will not race this round, with team owner Brad McCall taking over the #70 Round 3 Racing Mustang this weekend, making his series debut in the final round of the team’s successful first season in the series.
Series regular Joseph Dederichs will return in his repaired #63 Wheelhouse Motorsports car, with extensive repairs being made to his damaged Dark Horse R after an incident in Race 1 at VIR. The repair took the Wheelhouse squad 84 hours, with team owner and series alum Robert Noaker lending his efforts to get the car back to racing trim before the COTA.
Dan McKeever, president of Wheelhouse Racing, will make an entry in a third Dark Horse Legends car this weekend in the #77 car. McKeever raced in the Mustang Challenge Le Mans Invitational and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2025.
Paolo Salvatorre returns in the #84 Torre Racing car after retiring and taking a third-place finish at VIR last time out.
The Mustang Challenge field will have two 30-minute practice sessions on Friday, followed by qualifying at 10:30 am local time on Saturday; then Race 1 will take the green flag at 6:30 pm that evening. Race 2 begins at 9:50 am on Sunday, ahead of the Lone Star Le Mans WEC race, to end their season.
Image courtesy of Ford Racing
