Cole Loftsgard fended off TechSport Racing’s Devin Anderson in the No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R to score the overall and Dark Horse (DH) victory in the No. 42 Round 3 Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R, while Loftsgard’s teammate, Oleg Gorshkov, completed the sweep with the Dark Horse Legends (DHL) class victory in the No. 70 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R in Race 1 of Mustang Challenge North America at Virginia International Raceway (VIR).
The early stages of the race provided a blueprint for what was to come in the DH class, as Loftsgard led the 15-car field to the green flag. However, Anderson quickly began putting pressure on the class championship leader, briefly passing Loftsgard three minutes into the race before Loftsgard regained the top spot in the DH category.
Shortly after, the first full-course yellow of the race came out for DHL championship contender Chris Clarke, driving the No. 9 Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing Dark Horse R, after he went hard into the tire barrier at Turn 1.
Once the green flag returned, the battle continued at the front, with Loftsgard once again fending off a charging Anderson for the race lead. During the early stages of the restart, Gorshkov overtook Tom Tait in the No. 8 Wheelhouse Motorsports Dark Horse R for the DHL lead.
However, just moments later, another full-course yellow was called after Joseph Dederichs in the No. 63 Wheelhouse Motorsports Dark Horse R and Paolo Salavatorre in his self-owned Torre Racing No. 84 Dark Horse R sustained significant damage coming off Turn 1. The incident resulted in Dederichs receiving a 27-second post-race penalty for failing to serve an initial drive-through penalty after his car went off track following the incident.
The race restarted once again with less than 15 minutes remaining, with Anderson again on Loftsgard’s rear bumper. However, Anderson’s charge was temporarily halted when the race’s third full-course yellow was called for debris.
Once the debris was cleared, Anderson and the rest of the DH field reignited their battle to overtake Loftsgard, with Anderson pressing the championship leader to his limit with less than 10 minutes remaining. The pair of DH Wheelhouse Motorsports entries, Will Lucas in the No. 34 Dark Horse R and Sandy Satullo in the No. 7 Dark Horse R, also joined the fight for the lead.
Ultimately, Loftsgard was able to shake off the pursuing Anderson and build a gap over the rest of the field.
With five minutes remaining, Ryan Persing was sent into the Turn 1 tire barrier in the No. 29 Paley Motorsport with AAG Racing Dark Horse R, bringing out the fourth and final full-course yellow of the race and securing Loftsgard and Gorshkov a top-step podium sweep in the DH and DHL classes.
Joining Loftsgard on the DH podium was Anderson in second, who provided a spirited battle with the championship leader throughout the race, while Lucas completed the top three.
In DHL, Gorshkov was joined on the podium by Tait in second, while Nicholas Smither completed the top three in his self-owned No. 53 Nick Smither Racing Dark Horse R.
For Round 3 Racing, the pair of class victories marks the third race this season in which the program has swept both the DH and DHL classes, with the first two coming in the previous two rounds at Watkins Glen.
Tomorrow’s weekend finale at VIR for Mustang Challenge North America begins at 9:45 a.m. ET, live on Peacock, IMSA.tv and IMSA’s official YouTube Channel.
