Devin Anderson in the #22 TechSport Racing car had the upper hand this morning in the final Qualifying session of the Ford Mustang Challenge North America season at Circuit of the Americas, clinching pole position in the Dark Horse class.
The series regular had an advantage of four tenths over second-position Cole Loftsgard in the #42 Round 3 Racing car, sitting 170 points ahead of Anderson going into this round.
Ethan Low went third quickest after struggling for pace in the practice sessions yesterday, opting for used tyres for the Flying Lion #25’s practice running. The newcomer has had consistent top-five efforts in the limited season he has run in the series, joining the field at Watkins Glen.
Loftsgard set the tone early, logging a quick 2:18.552 out of the gate, before Anderson went over half a second quicker to go top of the pile five minutes into the session with what would be the pole-winning lap time of 2:18.020.
The Round 3 Racing driver would improve his time to a 2:18.492, but fell to third position soon after when Will Lucas in the #34 Wheelhouse Motorsports car, quickest in FP2 yesterday afternoon, split the two title rivals to go second, three-tenths off of Anderson.
Will Lucas’s time would soon be invalidated due to a track limits penalty with five minutes to go, dropping him to P6, where he would ultimately finish the session.
It looked as though the track conditions peaked early on, with most of the Dark Horse and Dark Horse Legends competitors logging their quickest times in their second or third attempts.
Behind Low was Tate Pritt in the #98 Automatic Racing machine, finishing in fourth position, who was quick in FP1, followed by Sandy Satullo in the #7 Wheelhouse Motorsports in fifth.
Dan McKeever put his #77 Wheelhouse Motorsports car on pole in Dark Horse Legends with a 2:20.913, now three-for-three topping every session of the weekend at this point. The team boss was followed by Paolo Salvatore in the #84 Torre Racing, just under a second off of pole position in second.
Tom Tait in the #8 Wheelhouse Motorsports car qualified third in class in the low 2:22s, followed by title rival Chris Clarke in the #9 Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing in fourth. Clarke had an issue in FP2 yesterday, wheeling his all-blue #9 behind the wall in Turn 6.
Race 1 will go green at 6:30 PM track time, with Race 2 to begin Sunday at 9:50 AM.
Image credit: Ford Racing
