Cole Loftsgard showed off his skills in the wet, taking his second Mustang Challenge North America pole position of the season in qualifying this morning at Mid-Ohio.
It was a wet session for the grid, with the pole-winning lap a 1:47.054, significantly slower than the fastest practice times in the 1:28.5s; the field only had the chance to put in two or three flying laps because of a red flag.
“For the power the Dark Horse R has, it does a good job putting the power down, even at a track like Mid-Ohio, which is notoriously low grip in wet conditions,” Loftsgard said. “I was pleasantly surprised what we could do with the car in a wet qualifying session. Round 3 Racing did a great job with the set up, and we’re looking forward to the races.”
Halfway through, Chris Clarke went off course in Turn 8, bringing out a red flag with seven minutes remaining in the session, and therefore received the typical penalty, losing his two fastest qualifying laps. He would qualify second-last on the grid since Lou Gigliotti in the #28 G2 Motorsports did not set a time.
Nolan Allaer once again was rapid after topping Practice 2, taking the second starting position overall for this afternoon’s race in the #3 Spark Performance Dark Horse R. In the second row, Sandy Satullo in the #7 Wheelhouse Motorsports, and Devin Anderson in the #22 TechSport cars will face-off into turn one in third and fourth position.
In Dark Horse Legends, Dave Luaces had the upper hand, qualifying seventh, above three Dark Horse class cars with a 1:51.022, finding his feet very quickly in the #37 Birdhouse Racing machine this weekend. The next Dark Horse Legends finisher was Paolo Salvatore in 11th overall, who had put his #84 Torre Racing machine right in the mix in both practice sessions so far.
“This track is incredibly challenging when it’s wet,” Lucaces explained. “I think the fact that I have experience on the track in the wet is what made the difference in qualifying today. The session was challenging, but I’m happy to have my Mustang Dark Horse R at the front.”
Joseph Dederichs qualified third in class, 12th overall, and just ahead of two of his fellow Wheelhouse drivers, Tom Tait and Ford CEO Jim Farley.
The weather will play a big part in this afternoon’s race, as limited practice time and a wet qualifying session will make things interesting for the multiple series newcomers on the entry list this weekend.
Race 1 will go live at at 1:55 pm ET, with Race 2 set for tomorrow morning at 9:50 am ET.
Image courtesy of Ford Racing
