Devin Anderson went unchallenged en route to victory during Race 1 of the Mustang Challenge at COTA in the #22 TechSport Racing car. Starting from pole position after a great showing in qualifying earlier in the day, Anderson built and maintained a large gap to title rival Cole Loftsgard in the #42 Round 3 Racing machine, who would finish the race in second position.
Anderson got a great jump off the starting line, leaving Loftsgard in the clutches of Ethan Low in the #25 Flying Lion Motorsports car, behind in third position. Anderson would build a 1.8-second lead before a yellow was brought out by the #29 Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing machine driven by Ryan Persing three laps into the race.
Teammates Sandy Satullo and Will Lucas found each other on track early in the running, fighting over fifth position after having an especially good weekend last round at VIR, taking three podiums out of four chances. While pushing through the quick first sector of the track, Satullo lost his position to Lucas and first-time entrant Justin Gravett in the #18 TechSport Racing car, falling to seventh position.
Dan McKeever led by a two-second gap to Chris Clarke in the #9 Paley Motorsport by AAG car at the halfway point of the 45-minute sprint race in his first entry in the Mustang Challenge series. The team boss has looked strong all weekend, fastest in both practice sessions, clearly finding pace straight off the truck.
Disaster struck for the Dark Horse Legends points leader, Tom Tait, in the #8 Wheelhouse Motorsport car, when a smoking rear end of the car called for a mechanical black flag from the stewards, knocking him out of contention with championship implications.
From third position, Low brought his Flying Lion Motorsports Mustang into the pits with presumably a mechanical issue early in the race. A disappointing result on Saturday in a race that looked promising in the early stages as he challenged the championship leader for second position.
Brad McCall in the #70 Round 3 Racing put serious pressure on series regular Paolo Salvatore in the #84 Torre Racing with 19 minutes remaining. McCall would send it down the inside on Salvatore to take third position in the Dark Horse Legends class, but would lose the racing line in Turn 14, going off track and ceding the position back to Salvatore. Out in front of the Legends class, McKeever quietly built an almost 20-second lead, getting into a flow around the 3.426-mile track.
Tate Pritt and Will Lucas fought over third position as the minutes wound down, the #98 Automatic Racing looking very pacey in the Lone Star State. Pritt was looking for his first podium finish of the season, and Lucas was looking for the fifth of his debut season.
After a brave move from Lucas and a sustained run of door-to-door racing down the back straight, the VIR Race 2 winner claimed third position.
With three minutes left in the race, the leading #77 Wheelhouse Motorsports car of Wheelhouse team boss Dan McKeever went straight off track at Turn 1, a nightmare end to a great showing for the first-time entrant.
The race ended under safety car conditions, with four cars retiring from the 15-car field. And with Anderson winning, his title fight with Loftsgard alive for the finale. Loftsgard holds a comfortable lead though, sitting 120 points ahead of Anderson.
“We just had an amazing Dark Horse R,” Anderson said. “I spent most of the race focused on managing my tires, and it definitely paid off in the long run. We came here wanting to make a statement and end the year strong, and I think we did exactly that. I’m looking forward to hopefully doing more of the same tomorrow.”
Will Lucas finished in third position overall behind Anderson and Loftsgard, extending his streak of podium finishes to three after a successful VIR weekend and a recovery drive after having his time deleted in qualifying, starting from sixth on the grid.
In Dark Horse Legends, Chris Clarke ended up with the victory after McKeever’s late race incident. Brad McCall finished second in his first race in the series, a big effort from the Round 3 Racing driver, presumably taking notes from his experienced teammate. Paolo Salvatore finished in third position, his fourth podium of the season.
The final race of the season is set to take place tomorrow at 09:50 local time in Texas.
Images courtesy of Ford Racing
