Cadillac Racing will start from the front row for the first of two races in the Pirelli World Challenge GT Championship to run at Utah Motorsports Campus this afternoon.

Michael Cooper (Syosset, N.Y.) put in a lap of 1:47.574 that will have him start next to the pole sitting McLaren for Alvaro Parente. Cooper was able to use some race craft to keep the No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe on the front row.  This is the third race this season that Cooper will start on the outside of Parente. The previous two races, Barber Motorsport Park and Mid-Ohio, the Cadillac driver was able to make an outside move into Turn 1 stick and go on for the win.

“It was a pretty good qualifying session,” Cooper said. “We are down a bit on straight line speed, however I was able to get a draft off of the McLaren on my fast lap, so that helped a lot. The McLaren is pretty slippery down this long straight, but I think we handle a little better in the turns. Starting on the front row is a good result for us this morning. This is the third time I will start next to Alvaro on the outside of the front row. Unfortunately the outside line into Turn 1 is pretty slick. I will be happy to exit Turn 1 in P2.”

Teammate Johnny O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) had a difficult start to the weekend when the team was forced to change the Cadillac LF4.R engine in his No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe on Thursday. The change had the four-time series champion sidelined for the day. In qualifying this morning O’Connell posted a time of 1:48.712 that will have him start from the seventh row.

“It was tough to miss the track time on Thursday,” O’Connell said. “We lost all of that data on the car. It caught up with us in qualifying. We will take a look at where we are at and look at Michael’s data and get it better for the race this afternoon. With where we are with the power of the car, I will be working hard to move up in the race.”