Noaker Victorious in Race 1 at Laguna Seca

Photo: Ford Performance

Robert Noaker took his third win of the Mustang Challenge season on Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, extending his points lead and spearheading a team 1-2 finish.

The Robert Noaker Racing frontman led the 20-car field to the green flag, opening up a small gap to the majority of the pack, with team stablemate Sandy Satullo and Dark Horse Legends class pole-sitter Alfonso Diaz keeping touch behind.

The Dark Horse class points leader led from flag to flag in his No. 13 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R and survived a mid-race restart on his way to victory lane.

Satullo consistently clung to the back of Noaker’s leading Mustang, taking the checkered flag 1.524 seconds back on his teammate.

Alex Bachoura won out in DHL and took the final overall podium position after a late battle with Diaz, which saw the Spark Performance take over the lead when the TechSport driver momentarily went off at the Corkscrew.

A hard-fought but clean battle saw the pair remain run nose-to-tail and often door-to-door on their way to the checkered flag.

Corbin Collins completed the overall top five and rounded out the DH class podium for McCumbee McAleer Racing.

Drew Neubauer took to pit lane after heavy contact with LAP Motorsports’ Scott Thomson and then the wall outside of The Corkscrew, while battling for position. The incident prompted a review from race control and an eventual full-course caution for track marshals to clear debris.

Jim Farley finished Race 1 seventh in DH and 11th overall in his No. 17 Competition Motors entry.

Neubaur was handed a 10-second post-race time penalty for incident responsibility. Despite initially taking the restart, Thomson pulled his No. 30 dark Horse R behind the wall at Turn 2 when the race went green.

Stephen Vajda’s race ended prematurely when he brought his No. 10 NV Mustang down pit lane, coming to a halt in his pit box.

One lap later, Devin Anderson received a mechanical black flag after his car ultimately pulled his TechSport machine behind the wall for retirement.

Race 2 of the weekend is slated for Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. PST with live coverage on Peacock as well as Ford Performance and IMSA’s YouTube channels.

RESULTS: Race 1