Cadillac Racing’s O’Connell Fifth and Pilgrim 11th at Mid-Ohio

  • Aug 22, 2015
  • Pratt Miller

Reading Time: 2 minutes

O’Connell and Pilgrim take on hot Ohio track

LEXINGTON, Ohio – Cadillac Racing driver Johnny O’Connell finished fourth and teammate Andy Pilgrim came to the checker in 11th in the second of a double race weekend at the Pirelli World Challenge StopTech Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course today.

O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) took the standing start lights from eighth with Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) going away from the start in 13th. Once again both Cadillac ATS-V.R drivers were able to get good starts only to be slowed soon after Turn One with a full course caution. On the restart O’Connell was able to move up one position to fifth and Pilgrim made his way to 11th where they both crossed the finish line under hot 88-degree temperatures 50-minutes later.

“I was able to get another good start,” O’Connell said. “I moved up a couple of spots until the yellow flew again right after Turn One. There are some missed opportunities when that happens like that right after the start, but I also understand and respect the reason for them. The series knows how to call those and I would rather be safe. This Cadillac Racing team doesn’t quit. Today was an example of that. I left everything out there today. It was a harder car for me to drive, it was unbelievably hot. We showed well this weekend with a pair of top six finishes so we are looking forward to Miller in a couple of weeks.”

Pilgrim will take the 11th place finish with a smile.

“It was nice see the checkered flag,” Pilgrim said. “The Cadillac Racing crew has been great. We have had a tough season so far. We got a nice finish today. It would have been nice to get a top ten, but I will take 11th. I had some wheel spin at the start and I got passed by Mike Skeen in his Audi. I ended up following him around all race. He had some issues, so we were evenly matched.”

The races from Mid-Ohio will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network Sunday, Aug. 9 at 4 p.m. ET.

The Pirelli World Challenge Series will travel to Miller Motorsport Park outside of Salt Lake City for a double race weekend Aug. 21-23.

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