Cadillac Racing drivers Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim will start from the third and fifth rows respectively for the first of two races today at the Pirelli World Challenge StopTech Grand Prix weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The all-new for 2015 Cadillac ATS-V.R received its final FIA certification on Friday allowing Cadillac Racing to drop 35 kg. (77 lbs.). The drop in weight, although welcome, will not rocket the ATS-V.R to the front of the pack.
In qualifying, O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.), put in a time of 1:20.591 on his ninth lap good for a starting position on the third row in the No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R. Teammate Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) put in a similarly fast lap of 1:20.855 that will have him start from the fifth row. The top 11 drivers in the GT field are separated by a mere second on the time sheet.
“We are better,” O’Connell said. “The great thing about Mid-Ohio is that there is a lot of medium speed turns. You can make up some ground you lose on horsepower with handling. I am not disappointed with the car. We maximized it in qualifying. I threw down three or four lap within two-tenths, so I like the consistency. We will have to see how it races. Dropping the weight is not so much of a feel thing for the driver, it will probably show up on the data and help with tire wear. I hope. We are still six or seven-tenths behind pole, so we have to keep working hard.”
Pilgrim had to overcome missing some practice laps, but was able to put his No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R in the top ten.
“We have had some interesting race this year,” Pilgrim said. “We had some issues in practice on Thursday and I missed some valuable track time. The Cadillac Racing guys did a great job to get everything right for qualifying and I was able to put in a good lap time. I have a good set-up on the car, we need to tweak it a little for the race. It feels good to be starting in the top ten on the grid. The weight coming off was pretty irrelevant to me, we had some other things we were attending to, but I am sure it will help with tire wear. The field is very tight. I think you are going to see a 10-15 car train going around until someone makes a mistake or loses patience and then it will change. This is one of those races where you need patience with a capital P.”