Loftsgard, Anderson Title Fight Heads to Watkins Glen

Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford

The fight for the Mustang Challenge North America title will continue this weekend at Watkins Glen International, in what’s shaping up to be a two-horse race between Cole Loftsgard and Devin Anderson.

Just 90 points separate the two drivers after six races, with Round 3 Racing driver Loftsgard ahead courtesy of four wins so far this season compared to Anderson’s two in his TechSport Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R.

However, the second-year Mustang Challenge driver has come on form in recent rounds, claiming a breakthrough win in the second race of the weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and picking up another win last time out at Mid-Ohio.

Sandy Satullo in his No. 7 Wheelhouse Motorsports Mustang is third in the standings, just ten points ahead of teammate, and reigning Mustang Cup USA champion Will Lucas.

Nineteen cars are entered for this weekend’s pair of races supporting the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

While the Dark Horse class has dropped to eight entries this weekend, with Spark Performance’s Nolan Allaer notably absent, Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing’s Ryan Persing is back in action after missing Mid-Ohio due to his high school graduation.

Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley, who contested all three opening rounds as a VIP entry, is understood to not have any further Mustang Challenge outings planned this season.

The Dark Horse Legends class, meanwhile, sees a season-high 11 entries, led by points leader Tom Tait, who holds a 130-point advantage over Paley with AAG driver Chris Clarke.

Both Nick Smither and Walter Bobko are back after Smither’s son’s wedding that coincided with the Mid-Ohio weekend, while Oleg Gorshkov will be in for Joe Koenig in the No. 70 Round 3 Mustang.

Drew Neubauer will make his series debut in a second Torre Racing entry, while NV Autosport, an offshoot of WeatherTech Championship Mustang GT3 EVO squad Gradient Racing, is set for its first start of the season with Stephen Vajda.

A pair of practice sessions are on tap for Thursday, followed by qualifying and Race 1 (1:55 p.m. EST) on Friday and Race 2 (8 a.m. EST) on Saturday. Both 45-minute contests will be streamed live 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