Despite tornados in the area, golf-ball-sized hail, persistent blustery rain and wind throughout Friday and Saturday, the new Mustangs, which were built for the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup, made a very positive impression on the large field of racers assembled for the weekend.

There were nine FR500Ss entered, which prompted NASA to create a regional Mustang Challenge class to accommodate them. Jamie Slone, driving the #6 Go Pro Ford Mustang FR500S, had the best weekend of all, scoring first overall in the second round of the NASA National Endurance Series on Friday and first in class in 25-minute sprint races on Saturday and Sunday.

In Saturday’s rain-shortened race, Slone placed fourth overall and first in class. Since the race was held in wet conditions, drivers chose to use the series-spec BFGoodrich KDW rain tires.

On Sunday, the storms had ended and racers were greeted with blue skies and dry track, which prompted a switch back to the series-spec dry tires, the BFGoodrich g-Force R1s. Slone again took the class win with a fifth-place overall finish.

"The weekend really couldn’t have gone any better," Slone said. "Pulling off the hat trick was a first for me. It was particularly gratifying considering that almost half of the Mustang Challenge field was here, and some of the drivers I was competing against are very experienced professionals."

The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup is a professional road racing series, sanctioned by the Grand American Road Racing Association, that utilizes the new Ford Mustang FR500S racing on BFGoodrich g-Force R1 tires. The inaugural season will kick off at Road Atlanta on May 3, for the first of eight races.