Watkins Qualifying Abandoned; Field to Line Up on Points

Photo: Bob Chapman/Ford

The starting grid for this afternoon’s Mustang Challenge North America round at Watkins Glen International will be determined by points positions, due to an incident in qualifying that did not see the session resume.

The No. 58 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R of Nick Smither was reported in the Turn 8 runoff after contact with the No. 84 Torre Racing entry of Paolo Salvatore six minutes into the 15-minute scheduled session.

Only ten of the 18 entries had set a lap prior to the session-ending red.

The incident, which is due to be reviewed post-qualifying, resulted in the majority of the session being under red flag conditions, and therefore reverting to a grid order based on points.

Cole Loftsgard, as a result, will start from pole in the No. 42 Round 3 Racing Mustang, alongside the No. 22 TechSport Racing entry of Devin Anderson in second.

The No. 7 Wheelhouse Motorsports entry of Sandy Satullo will start Race 1 in third, while Tom Tait is set to start from pole in Dark Horse Legends.

Race 1 is set for a 1:55 p.m. EST green flag, with live coverage on Peacock as well as IMSA and Ford Racing’s YouTube channels.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John