Cadillac Racing driver Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim have individual goals headed to the Pirelli World Challenge Series Championship Nissan Finale at Miller Motorsports Park, Sept. 12-13.

O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga) has been able to hang on to the World Challenge GT points lead even though the Cadillac CTS.V.Rs have been slowed by multiple balance of performance “awards” this season. Notwithstanding the CTS.V.R remains the heaviest car on the grid with reduced power, the two-time defending GT drivers champion (2012 and 2013) has been able to combine race craft with some luck to take the points lead into Miller Motorsports Park this weekend. He has just a 42 point cushion in front of second place driver Mike Skeen.

Johnny O’Connell
“Honestly our game plan is going to be what it has been all season long,” O’Connell said. “Work together as a team and try to execute perfectly on all levels. Everyone in the series knows that we are currently operating at a serious disadvantage to the other cars. For both races I will need to be perfect and the team will need to be perfect as well. I simply plan on bringing the same level of intensity to both races that I do at every single event for Cadillac racing.”

With O’Connell’s success coming early in the year, with wins at Long Beach and Detroit to go along with podium finishes at Barber (2), Road America, Toronto and Mid-Ohio, he has been able to take the fight for a third championship to Miller, where the circuit layout should favor the Skeen Audi.

“Only because of the way the balance of performance has been handled this year,” O’Connell continued. “I’m naturally concerned because there are aspects of Miller that are similar to Road America. To remind people, at Road America we were a second slower than the Audi. Yet after the race the series added 130 pounds (75 pound reduction for Miller) to our car. It is because of this, that I would have to say that Audi has a distinct advantage over us going into the final two races.”

Andy Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla) also has a challenge headed to the race track just 20 minutes east of Salt Lake City. Pilgrim sits fourth in the GT championship, just 58 points from third.  Pilgrim can help his cause and that of Cadillac which is seven points behind Audi for the manufacturer championship.

Andy Pilgrim
“We have a manufacturers championship to win for Cadillac and the team focus will be on doing just that at Miller,” Pilgrim said. “We are behind Audi in second place right now, but it’s not completely out of reach, so we’ll be pushing 110% to make it happen.”

“The last six races favored the Audi GT3 cars over our Cadillac, but I think the Miller track will be more equal for us,” Pilgrim continued. “There is no doubt the turbo charged cars will probably have an advantage, so the McLaren and Bentley should be rockets, with the Lamborghini, Porsche and Ferrari also should be very quick. I think both Johnny and I have been put in a position where we have no choice but to race as aggressively as possible to maintain both manufacturer and driver championships this weekend.”
 
The Pirelli World Challenge Series will travel to Miller Motorsports Park in Utah for the final two rounds of the season Sept. 12-13. The season finale will be televised on NBC Sports Network, Sun., Sept. 28 at 2:30 p.m. ET.