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SONOMA, Calif., (Aug. 24, 2013) – Team Cadillac drivers Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim will start tomorrow’s Pirelli World Challenge Cadillac Grand Prix of Sonoma one and two respectively. The one point for the pole position was enough to clinch the manufacturer’s championship for Cadillac in the GT category.
O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) put in a time of 1:35.400 in his No. 3 Cadillac CTS-
V that will have him starting from pole position, seventh of the season, for tomorrow’s 11:10 a.m. PT start. Teammate Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) will take the standing start right next to O’Connell on the strength of his 1:35.433 time. The Georgia resident in contention for the driver’s title and is looking for a strong race to improve on his 13-point lead over second. Pilgrim is also in contention and will be looking to better his third-place position in the points.
“We knew that qualifying would be important this weekend,” O’Connell said. “The biggest challenge was the limited practice time. We really didn’t get a good feel for where the car was with the constant starting and stopping of practice and really only three laps in the last session on Friday. We pretty much reverted back to the original set-up that we unloaded with on Wednesday. My second lap, which was looking like my best, I had to go off line to avoid one of the Audi drivers that had a flat tire. I have a good race car for tomorrow and I have a friendly face in Andy staring next to me.”
“The limited practice is the same for everyone,” he continued. “We wanted to do a few things on the car that we didn’t have time to do. The fact that Andy and I are so close with our qualifying times is a real testament to the good work and preparation done by Team Cadillac.”
Pilgrim is pleased with his qualifying run.
“Team Cadillac did a great job on the initial set-up,” Pilgrim said. “We had some issues with on Thursday, so we really had to rely on the baseline set-up the team had on the car. All Cadillac front row is good for the team. I am happy with my qualifying time. When I can get that close to Johnny on time, who probably has more laps around here in a race car than anyone, that is a good day. Good pole for Johnny and good for his championship run.”
“Compared to last year we have softened the car up and it seems to work better that way,” he added. “The track surface is so polished that braking can be difficult. It is easy to over shoot your braking point. The whole race is going to be a crap shoot and it will be very interesting once we get into traffic.”
The Pirelli World Challenge Cadillac Grand Prix of Sonoma is a single race weekend that will take the standing start on Sunday, Aug. 25 at 12:10 PT. The race from Sonoma will be televised on NBC Sports, Sunday, September 8th at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live streaming of the race can be viewed at www.world-challengeTV.com on race day and continuously on demand after races.
Team Cadillac 2013 Pirelli World Challenge GT Results
Event: St. Petersburg
Drivers: O’Connell; Pilgrim
Qualify: 5, 4; 6, 6
Finish: 3, 3; 4, 5
Event: Long Beach
Drivers: O’Connell; Pilgrim
Qualify: 5; 7
Finish: 8; 2
Event: Circuit of the America’s
Drivers: O’Connell; Pilgrim
Qualify: 1, 1; 4, 4
Finish: 1, 17; 3, 2
Event: Detroit
Drivers: O’Connell; Pilgrim
Qualify: 1, 3; 4, 4
Finish: 1, 2; 3, 8
Event: Lime Rock
Drivers: O’Connell; Pilgrim
Qualify: 1, 1; 2, 3
Finish: 3, 1; 2, 2
Event: Toronto
Drivers: O’Connell; Pilgrim
Qualify: 1; 4
Finish: 1; 2
Event: Mid-Ohio
Drivers: O’Connell; Pilgrim; Taylor
Qualify: 5, 3; 8, 5; 3, 8
Finish: 2, 11; 5, 4; 7, 12
Event: Sonoma
Drivers: O’Connell; Pilgrim
Qualify: 1; 2
Finish:
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