By: Tommy Milner on March 27, 2012

This year, as you almost certainly know, marked the 60th anniversary of the 12 Hours of Sebring. One look at pit lane and the history of the race’s overall winners shows how important this event has been to sports-car racing. It was also the first round of sports-car racing’s first world

championship in 10 years. For me, in my eighth year in GT competition in the American Le Mans Series and my second year with Corvette Racing, Sebring was an important start to the year.

With or without its status as a round of the new FIA World Endurance Championship, Sebring is an event. Some 100,000-plus fans from around the world gathered to enjoy one of the Unites States’ greatest automobile races. When I look back at the drivers, teams and manufacturers who have competed at Sebring, it’s humbling to know that I can put myself in the same group as those who came before me.

For 2012, Corvette Racing has brought an evolutionary change to the Corvette C6.R. Now allowed to build a wider car for this season, the team at Pratt Miller Engineering and Corvette Racing have worked hard in the off-season to

develop a car to challenge our competition from Maranello, Munich and Stuttgart. There is no other class in sports-car racing more competitive and compelling than the GT class, and every year each manufacturer continues to develop and improve its car. This year is no different.

Sebring was especially important because it was the only real opportunity to gauge how we, as a team, stack up to our competition before the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We’ll have one more opportunity at the Le Mans test day prior to

the race, but Sebring is always a true test of the entire team and an opportunity to improve before the famous 24 Hours. As is always the case, while I was very impressed with Corvette Racing’s improvement in the off-season, the other manufacturers made an impact as well.

In qualifying, as Jan Magnussen and my co-driver, Oliver Gavin, threw everything they had at the bumpy 3.7-mile circuit in their respective Corvettes, each came up just a bit short of the quickest times, earning a third and fourth place, respectively. Still, those were a couple of great

starting spots for such a long race and a great result for a winter of hard work to improve upon the Le Mans-winning C6.R.

The grid size at Sebring this year was one of the major talking points. Sixty-three cars, more than any in recent history, would start the race; managing that traffic would be a huge key to a successful race in every class. Oliver would start for us in the No. 4 and we would cycle through

drivers at almost every stop.

As the race played out, we seemed to have the race pace to compete with the Ferraris and BMWs. All throughout practice, it’s very hard to gauge where everyone is in terms of speed. We seemed to be competitive in practice, and

I was happy to see that was still the case in the race when all of the cards were on the table.

In any long endurance race, the goal for the first three-quarters is to simply survive. Make no mistakes on the track or in the pits, and put yourself and the team in position to fight for the win. Oliver, Richard Westbrook and I all led the race at different points. We were keeping our nose clean and just focusing on running quick and navigating traffic as best as possible.

With the sun setting, lap times started to fall. With about four hours to go in the race, both of our Corvettes and both of the BMWs were right up front, with a Ferrari and a Porsche following closely. We continued to look strong

as the temperature cooled, a condition we struggled in last year. That was the only question I had about our pace, and things looked good.

As I hopped in the car for my final stint with about two hours to go, I knew we’d come out of the pits right with the others in our class-and now the race was on. After getting by one BMW early on for second place, I set my

sights on the next BMW for the lead. I was able to match the pace of Joey Hand in the BMW and was a bit better through traffic. Twice I was able to get past him but only just-and on the wrong side of the track to make the

pass stick. Finally, after two tries, I was able to get a run out of the last corner when he made a mistake; I got by him into turn one to take the lead with about an hour and 20 minutes remaining before I would pit and Oliver would get into the car for the finish.

As things shook out, we ended up fourth in the combined WEC/ALMS standings and third in the ALMS GT results. A win would have been sweet, of course, but third was still a very strong start to what will hopefully be another

fantastic year in the GT class and, from a selfish standpoint, a much more competitive year for us at Corvette Racing! Be sure to follow along all year!

Editor’s note: Autoweek Editor at Speed Tommy Milner, 26, of Lake Mary, Fla., joined Corvette Racing in 2011 as a full-season driver in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R He realized his potential quickly, winning the GTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with co-drivers Olivier Beretta and Antonio Garcia. Milner made the pass for the lead and then completed his stint in treacherous wet conditions before handing off to Garcia for the final laps in the world’s most famous sports-car race.

A second-generation racer, Milner is the son of noted team owner Tom Milner. He has competed in formula- and sports-car series with distinction. He has driven for factory-affiliated teams representing Panoz, Porsche and BMW, and he has competed three times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He finished third in the ALMS GT driver championship in 2010 and ninth in 2011. This season, he teams with full-time co-driver Oliver Gavin in the American Le Mans Series, as well as co-driver Richard Westbrook in select endurance races.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120327/ALMS/120329847#ixzz1qQo661PC

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES

GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG

STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES

MARCH 25, 2012

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 SHELL-PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – WINNER: CONSIDERING THE STRUGGLES OF A YEAR AGO AND ALL THE EMOTIONS THAT CAME WITH THE FINALE LAST YEAR, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO WIN THIS RACE TODAY? “This is a great effort for everyone. First I want to thank the Shell V-power team, Pennzoil which was awesome. I want to thank Verizon, IZOD, SKF Group and Chevy. No question about it our friend upstairs Dan Wheldon. Certainly coming back last year was a big struggle. Now to be here in Victory Circle it is a dream come true. I just have to thank, obviously, Roger Penske, Tim Cindric and this time John Erickson and Ron Ruzewki and my group here they did a hell of a job this whole entire week. Thanks again. Thanks for all the support.”

AFTER THE FINAL PIT STOP YOU CAME OUT AND YOU MADE THAT OUTSIDE PASS ON (SCOTT) DIXON IN TURN ONE, TAKE US THROUGH THAT: “As soon as we came out (of the pits) I kind of went right in front of (Scott) Dixon. I couldn’t make a move because he was already making a move and the rules are you can’t block. He passed me and I said ‘you know what let’s see what’s going to happen on the straight-a-way.’ As soon as he moved he gave me an option to go on the outside. I made it stick and I made it turn. It was great. It was a fair race. Great start for this group No. 3 and a great start for Team Penske, no question.”

ROGER PENSKE, TEAM OWNER, NO. 3 SHELL V-POWER/PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: “This is a great day for General Motors and obviously for Chevrolet who made the commitment to come back into IndyCar racing. This is really an event that shows the commitment in the automobile industry in the U.S. All the engineers within Chevrolet teaming with Ilmor to bring a product to the marketplace like this car in one year is amazing.

“I can tell you that is a terrific run. With the new Chevy engine, the new cars and John Erickson at the wheel there along with Helio (Castroneves) and (Ron) Ruzewski it’s great. We had three good cars today. It’s going to be a great season. I want to thank our sponsors Shell-Pennzoil for putting us up front. It’s great to be back racing.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 28 DHL/SUN DROP CITRUS SODA ANDRETTI ATUOSPORT CHEVROLET – FINISHED 3RD: YOU WERE ON A FUEL STRATEGY, INSTEAD OF GOING FOR IT YOU HAD TO GO FOR MILEAGE THAT IS FRUSTRATING: “I thought we had something for Scott (Dixon) on old tires, but that is the way it is sometimes. That Chevy engine made great fuel mileage and we are happy to get a podium to start out the year. This certainly had bigger things in mind that is for sure.”

IF YOU HADN’T OF BEEN PLAYING FUEL STRATEGY, DID YOU HAVE WHAT IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN TO GET HIM? “I think so. He was really good on cold tires and at the beginning of stints. Then I would reel him back in as the tires would get hot. Scott (Dixon) did a great job today. We are happy to have two Chevy’s on the podium. Great showing for DHL and Sun Drop, but most of all we are missing Dan (Wheldon). That wound is still fresh and this race would have been better with him in it that’s for sure. He was just such a great ambassador for our sport. He was a champion and all of us want to emulate him. We all want to be like him. We love the Wheldon family; this is their city and thank you to all the fans that came out.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: ON HIS RACE: DID YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH THE BATTERY? “Obviously when we are trying to save fuel under caution, you are running very low on the RPMs and the alternator only charges over a certain RPM. A couple of guys were running a little bit too low and actually drained-out the battery. But, my guys on this team were keeping me up-to-date on where my battery was and I needed to raise the revs; when I could conserve more fuel, I did. It was a really big team effort there. I lost my dash for a little bit of the second stint there, so they were my eyes and ears even more than normal. We got that all sorted. It was just a great effort.”

ON THE RACE: “It was a great race. A great way to start the season for the GoDaddy car. Happy for Ryan (Hunter-Reay) to get on the podium there. We were so close there. We keep knocking on the door. It was great, but I kept getting hosed by being on the outside for those double-file restarts and losing places. The guys did a great job with the strategy and the pit stops were flawless. We were able to do that; conserve just enough fuel. The thing ran out of fuel coming into the pits. Just all around a great effort. Can’t thank the boys, Chevy and GoDaddy enough.”

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 2 IZOD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5TH: ON HIS RACE: “Not bad. We just got beat by the two-stop strategy today. The team did an amazing job battling some electrical issues since qualifying yesterday. Saving fuel wasn’t an option for me. I had to run high RPM under all the yellows. So we basically just committed to a three-stop strategy. Race was good. It was a lot of fun. The Chevy engine did an awesome job all day long and had plenty of power. Definitely more power than any of the competition. Really pleased with that. Not a bad top-five way to start the championship. We’ll just keep pulling on these points.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: ON HIS RACE: “I just got swamped on that first restart and that kind of screwed us. The strategy, we could have ended up good, but man, my restarts were atrocious. I just kind of was too conservative, but its just impossoble to pass. You cannot pass. You just cannot pass, man. Everybody gets about the same drive out of the corner. Impossible. I could not pass. I was two seconds a lap quicker than guys in front of me and couldn’t get by. Great job for Helio, he hasn’t had a win in a long time.Maybe these cars just have a lot of grip. It’s so hard to pass. It really is. You can’t pass in these things, so you have to make hay when you get a restart. First restart I was just conservative and getting in the wrong spot. Just one of those days when nothing seemed to right until the end there. We got a clear track and got a chunk of track position back.”

E.J. VISO – NO. 5 CITGO | PDVSA – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH: “I was very sick last night, so I had very little energy during the race. Despite that we had a pretty good event. The team gave me a good and consistent car and I was able to keep a good pace all through the race. This was the first time Jimmy (KV Racing Technology co-owner Jimmy Vasser) called one of my races and he was a big help. I really liked what he did. He was a key person today. I am excited how we started the season and am looking forward to next weekend at Barber.

MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 26 TEAM RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14TH: “We were short on fuel on the last run and had to make an extra pit stop. I’m not happy to finish 14th, but, considering how I did here last year (knocked-out in lap one crash), it’s an improvement. We ran in the top-five early on, and I think we’ll have the speed to be at the front at Barber (Motorsports Park, home of next week’s IndyCar race).”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO – NO. 8 BMC | EMBRASE – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH: “I had fun out there. Unfortunately we had a meter reading problem so I ran out of fuel at the end. However, I enjoyed the race and dicing with other cars, but would have liked to have been able to push more. It has been a good learning experince this weekend and I look forward to being back in the car in a few days for the next race.”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH: “I’m a little disappointed to come home 18th because we had good pace for a lot of race. We were off on the balance in the first half of the race, but we made the car better with each stop. The last stint was very good and we set some pretty quick laps. It’s good to see a Chevy in victory lane today, but I can’t say I appreciated the way Helio (Castroneves) moved me out of the way when I was trying to get to the pits. Without doing much road racing last year, I think it was a good start for me. I felt we had a better car than 18th and it is the best car I have ever had at St. Pete. With the little track time we have had so far, I think this is a good start for us. I think we found something we can improve on as the year goes on. I’m really proud of the team this weekend. I’m just disappointed we lost a couple of laps due to the spin because I felt we could have finished on the lead lap. It would have shown how we ran today. Overall, we know how we ran and the improvement we gained this weekend. Now, we gather ourselves and get ready for Barber next week.”

JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 20 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH: “In that last stint we passed Dario (Franchitti), Marco (Andretti) and were going to be able to easily get by Will (Power) and Simon (Pagenaud) for a potential Top Five. As frustrating as it is that we don’t have anything on a piece of paper to show how well we performed today, I’m really jacked up about the pace we had all race and that the National Guard car felt really good the whole time. I’m just ready to keep this moving, and the National Guard boys did so well all day in the pits, even after we had a mechanical issue on a stop that sent us all the way back to dead last. We knew our Chevy was good all through practice and we learned a lot about the racecar today because it didn’t matter what tire we were on, we were fast as the leaders the entire time. This gives all of us the confidence that we can be doing this on a more regular basis on any type of track. Panther has always been known for their oval package, but I think we’re here to show everybody this year that on any type of track we can get up there with the guys at the front and beat anybody.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 GEICO | MOUSER ELECTRONICS – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY W/SH CHEVROLET, FINISHED 25TH: Sidelined on lap 22 with suspected electrical issues: TV INTERVIEW – DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING SOMETHING WAS GOING WRONG? “It was a shame today because I think we could have had a good result. We had an electrical problem. We are not really sure right now what it was or what caused it, but my dashboard just went blank and the car shut down. Looking around it is a beautiful day with everyone remembering Dan (Wheldon). It reminds you that there are a lot more important things in life than dropping out of a race.”

RESEND-FIXES CHEVROLET LAST INDYCAR WIN:

Chevrolet V-6 IndyCar Debuts With Win at St. Petersburg

Helio Castroneves’ Victory Paces 6 Chevy-Powered Teams in the Top 10

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 25, 2012) – Helio Castroneves punctuated Chevrolet’s return to Indy car racing following a six-year absence by winning the IZOD IndyCar Series season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Castroneves led 28 laps en route to his third career win at the 1.8 mile street course.

“This was a great effort for everyone,” said Castroneves, who moved into a tie for 13th place on IndyCar’s all-time list with his 26th career victory. “Chevy did a great job to keep everything under control. We had some issues in the beginning that we have to raise the revs so that we can have the battery, or something like that. But, to be honest, it didn’t upset us, it makes our temperature in the engine very nice and everything went really smooth.”

Castroneves, who drives for legendary team owner Roger Penske, paced six Team Chevy drivers in the top eight: Ryan Hunter-Reay (third), James Hinchcliffe (fourth), Ryan Briscoe (fifth), pole-sitter Will Power (seventh) and E.J. Viso (eighth).

“This weekend was very satisfying from the perspective that all of the Chevrolet teams worked together to prepare for this first race, and the outcome was terrific,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet’s North American Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “I’m very proud of all of the teams that were here competing. This was a terrific day for all of the teams, and for Chevrolet as we introduce the twin-turbo Indy V-6.”

The victory was Chevrolet’s first in the series since June 11, 2005 when Tomas Scheckter won at Texas Motor Speedway.

“This is a great day for Chevrolet who made the commitment to come back into IndyCar racing,” said Roger Penske. “This is really an event that shows the commitment in the automobile industry in the U.S. All the engineers within Chevrolet teaming with Ilmor to bring a product to the marketplace like this car in one year is amazing.

“It’s going to be a great season. It’s great to be back racing.”

Chevrolet—now with a purpose-built Chevy IndyCar twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V-6—previously competed in Indy-style competition from 1986-93 and 2002-05 with a V-8, winning 104 races—including seven Indianapolis 500 wins—and powering six driver champions.

Chevrolet will next compete in IZOD IndyCar Series next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., on April 1, 2012.

For Release March 25, 2012, 3 p.m. EDT

O’Connell Second, Pilgrim Third in Round 2 for Team Cadillac in World Challenge St. Petersburg Grand Prix

Cadillac CTS-V Coupes Log four top-four finishes in two-race weekend

• O’Connell, Pilgrim First and Third in Driver Standings

• One Point Separates Manufacturers

• Team Gains Ton of Momentum Heading to Long Beach

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Team Cadillac capped a tremendous opening weekend in St. Petersburg with a double-podium finish on Sunday, as Johnny O’Connell finished second and Andy Pilgrim third in Round 2 of the Pirelli World Challenge Series.

That means the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe drivers are first and third in the points heading to Round 3 next month at Long Beach, and Cadillac is a point off the lead in the Manufacturers’ points as well.

Lawson Aschenbach led all 29 laps to post the victory, and O’Connell and Pilgrim were in hot pursuit most of those laps. In the end, Aschenbach crossed the finish line 4.591 seconds ahead of the Team Cadillac duo.

The weekend could not have gone better for Cadillac, said Pilgrim.

“I was hoping we would both get top-fives this weekend and get out of here,” said Pilgrim. “You never know with this place. There’s a lot of damaged equipment for a street race. I’m very happy with third today, Johnny got a great win yesterday and for me, it’s always a team deal, but I’m glad to be on the podium.”

“We’re out of here with two top-fours and I’m happy.”

Technical Director Steve Cole said much the same.

“This was just about perfect for us this weekend,” he quipped. “We got a victory and four top-four finishes. That puts us in great shape heading to Long Beach.”

At the start, Pilgrim’s shifter stuck in first gear and wouldn’t release, and it cost him three spots. O’Connell sneaked past for fourth behind Aschenbach and the Volvos of Alex Figge and Randy Pobst.

Full-course cautions slowed the first part of the race, and there was little change in the running order until Figge and O’Connell made contact on a restart. Fighting for position into Turn 1, Figge’s car sustained suspension damage that ended his day.

A few laps later, Pobst had a mechanical issue and slowed, finally pulling off and out of the race.

“I got past Figge on a restart, and there was inch from my mirror to the wall and an inch over to him,” O’Connell said. “Somebody got into the back of me, and I had Randy Pobst outside of me. The smart thing was to let him have the position, and hopefully he’d come back to me. Sure enough, a few laps later, he had an issue.”

That set up the run to the finish, and while both Cadillacs were fast, they were unable to reel in the speedy leader.

“It was tough,” O’Connell admitted. “I was pushing so hard, and I was hoping that Lawson would get caught in traffic or make a mistake, but he didn’t. I couldn’t get close enough, but it’s still a great weekend for Cadillac. I couldn’t get a good run at him, and I didn’t allow myself to get into position to get one. On the last restart, I got tagged a little bit from behind and that messed me up a little bit in trying to set him up for Turn 3.”

Pilgrim didn’t let O’Connell forget he was back there, either.

“It seemed like I was quicker than everyone through certain parts of the course, but I gave up some time in others,” Pilgrim said.

O’Connell was aware of his teammate’s presence.

“I just put my head down and pushed as hard as I could. Andy was faster than me at some places, but I was better than him in others. He faded back there a little bit, and I was thinking he was saving his tires for a late run.”

In all, however, Team Cadillac posted a first, a second, a third and a fourth in two races.

After the first two rounds, O’Connell leads the driver points, 265-239, over Aschenbach, with Pilgrim third at 204. In the Manufacturers’ standings, Porsche leads with 17 and Cadillac is a point behind with 16.

The first two rounds of the Pirelli World Challenge season will be broadcast on NBC Sports, Sunday, April 8 at 4:30-6 p.m. EDT. The races will also be broadcast on www.world-challengeTV.com after initial broadcast.

The next race for Team Cadillac is April 13-15 in the annual Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. In recent years, Cadillac has engineered a historic renaissance led by artful engineering and advanced technology. More information on Cadillac can be found at media.cadillac.com.

For Release March 25, 2012, 10:30 a.m. EDT

O’Connell Wins Again for Team Cadillac in World Challenge, Pilgrim Fourth at St. Petersburg Grand Prix

O’Connell Wins After Post-Race Penalty Shifts Standings

• • Team Cadillac wins for the third time in last five World Challenge Races
• • Late restart key to victory for O’Connell
• • Pilgrim to start second, O’Connell third in Sunday’s Round 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Team Cadillac picked up where it left off last season, winning the opening round of the Pirelli World Challenge Series on the Streets of St. Petersburg.

It was not without controversy, however.

Johnny O’Connell won for the third time in five World Challenge races, despite finishing second on the track in his No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. Posted winner Lawson Aschenbach was penalized one minute for an infraction, moving O’Connell up one step on the podium to first.

The penalty also moved Team Cadillac teammate Andy Pilgrim to fourth in the final rundown. Aschenbach finished 26th overall, 10th in the GT class.

“It was a great improvement by everybody on the Cadillac team,” O’Connell said. “We battled for this victory. We earned it. Last year, we were fourth in the first race and seventh in the second.”

The race started with second-place Pilgrim in good shape for the lead into Turn 1. Unfortunately, Volvo’s Alex Figge leaped away off the line and took the lead from Pilgrim in the run toward Turn 1.

It stayed that way, barring a couple of full-course cautions for accidents, until the 17th lap, when another crash set up the race’s biggest turning point.

Pilgrim was running second behind Figge with O’Connell right behind. Two yellow flags in the corners before and a blue flag for a slower car right at Turns 3 and 4 caused Figge to slow, and that meant both Cadillacs had to slow down as well, lest they pass the leader.

A slow-moving Touring Car was right in the middle of all that, and Aschenbach had a big run going. It carried him past O’Connell at the entrance to Turn 4 and eventually past Pilgrim and the still-slowing Figge to the lead.

Pilgrim said the slow car really confused things. “We had a Touring Car in the middle of it and we all had to slow down. Figge had no option, and I’m right behind him. I’m like, ‘what do I do now?’”

Aschenbach was able to stay on top the remaining nine laps, though he had heavy pressure from behind most of the way.

The race was marred by several crashes among the GTS and Touring Car fields, resulting in four full-course yellows, and that meant the race came down to who was best on restarts.

O’Connell, running fourth on the last restart, took a shot at the lead by diving all the way to the right down the wide front straight and sticking the CTS-V to the inside of James Sofronas’ Porsche. Three-wide, with Figge on the outside and Pilgrim right behind Figge, O’Connell made it through.

“On the last restart, I timed it well, took some chances and it worked out,” O’Connell said. “This was a great race. This was classic. I had a great battle with James Sofronas, racing so hard and so clean. It was a great day all around. Andy qualified super well and it really came down to restarts.”

Pilgrim, who was stuck behind Figge in the mad dash to Turn 1, faded to sixth once it shook out ahead of him, and spent the remaining laps trying to get back those lost positions.

“I got totally balked on the restart,” Pilgrim said. “Three cars had a run, nothing I could do, and I just got stuck behind Figge. Couldn’t go left, couldn’t go right. Top-five is fine, but I am disappointed in that restart. “

He eventually got past Steve Ott’s Porsche for fifth, but could gain no more before another big crash ended the race.

In all, the opening race of the 2012 season was a great deal better than the opening race of the Team Cadillac era last season.

The race, however marred by cautions, also was a chance for O’Connell and Pilgrim to test their CTS-V Coupes in battle for the first time.

“We’re going to be able to improve our car a little bit, I hope,” O’Connell said. “I was not pleased with my start, and we can improve on the setup a little bit. One of the bad things about weekends like this is you never get enough track time.”

O’Connell leads the driver points with 146, while Pilgrim is fourth with 97.

Team Cadillac will try to make it two straight in Sunday’s second round, set for 11 a.m. on the 1.8-mile St. Petersburg course.

Pilgrim will start second again on Sunday by virtue of posting the second-fastest lap time in Saturday’s race. O’Connell will start third and Aschenbach will have the pole.

Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. In recent years, Cadillac has engineered a historic renaissance led by artful engineering and advanced technology. More information on Cadillac can be found at media.cadillac.com.

For Release March 24, 2012 11:30 a.m.

Team Cadillac’s Pilgrim Second, O’Connell Fourth in World Challenge Qualifying for GP of St. Petersburg

Outside Pole for Pilgrim, Thousandths of a Second off Top Spot

• O’Connell within a tenth of a second of Pilgrim

• Tight Grid, Traffic Big Challenges on Street Course

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – What a difference a year makes.

Andy Pilgrim put the No. 8 Cadillac CTS-V on the outside pole for Saturday’s opening race in the Pirelli World Challenge series, clicking off a lap at 1:14.899, just .199 behind polesitter Mike Skeen.

“Last year, with brand-new cars, very little testing, we came down here and qualified seventh and eighth,” Pilgrim said after the 45-minute session. “This year, we’re ready. I was very happy with my car.”

Teammate Johnny O’Connell put his No. 3 CTS-V Coupe fourth on the grid, timing in at 1:15.037.

“It’s a big improvement over last year,” he said. “Andy did a great job to put his car on the outside pole. I wasn’t real happy with the car, it had too much understeer, but it’s a great day for Cadillac. This is as close a grid as I’ve ever seen, and everything looks pretty good.”

Interestingly, both drivers posted their quick laps on the seventh time through the traps.

Starting position at St. Petersburg is very important because of the traffic the GT drivers will face. More than 50 cars will start tonight’s race on the 1.8-mile airport/street course.

“You just try to stay out of trouble,” Pilgrim said of the heavy concentration of cars. “Passing here is difficult, so you try to protect your starting position.”

The 2012 Pirelli World Challenge Series races tonight at 6 p.m. and again on Sunday at 11 a.m. through the Streets of St. Petersburg. Live streaming of both races is available, and the Cadillac Racing Media Kit is now available online.

Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. In recent years, Cadillac has engineered a historic renaissance led by artful engineering and advanced technology. More information on Cadillac can be found at media.cadillac.com.

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES

GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG

STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE NOTES AND QUOTES

MARCH 23, 2012

Andretti Autosport drivers, Marco Andretti, No. 26 RC Cola Chevrolet, James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet and Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 28 DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet met with members of the media at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg prior to the start of the weekend’s activities. Here are a few selected quotes from the press conference. Full audio available upon request.

ANDRETTI: ON STARTING THE NEW SEASON: “The new car has been pretty similar. The biggest thing with the new car is going to be the engine, in my opinion. The thing still has four wheels so it handles similar to the old one. A lot of things that worked on the old car are working now. With the engines, it has been fun working with Chevy and the engineers to kind of tune it to your style. Other than that, it is still a race car.”

HUNTER-REAY: ON THE NEW COMBINATION OF DRIVERS: “We’ve been working really hard on moving Andretti Autosport forward these last few years. With the camaraderie we have now, it’s just easy. We communicate well together. It is an open platform; so hopefully now, we can just turn that into results. That’s the hard part. We are certainly working hard at it. The greatest part is that when we get done with our first practice, we’re all going to share what we learned and hopefully move forward three times as fast. That’s the plan.”

HINCHCLIFFE: ON STARTING THE NEW SEASON: “A year ago, I was sitting on the sidelines, so it is quite cool to see how a year can change things. I’m now in a great situation here with Andretti Autosport and GoDaddy.com. This is one of my favorite events. It is a great event for us to start the season. It has just got such a cool atmosphere. It is a cool track. Now, we are coming into the season with these new cars, the new engines; a whole lot of unknowns. It is just all very exciting. For me, it is a new car, a new engine, new track, new team, new teammates. I almost feel like a rookie all over again. It has been a long off-season. A lot of testing; a lot of development. Now, I’m completely happy to be here and finally get to racing and get on the track.”

ANDRETTI: HOW IS RUBENS BARRICHELLO GOING TO IMPACT THE SPORT? “I think it is exactly what we need. The more followers; the more eyes on us. Rubens will be able to do that. He is a very talented driver. For us, he is more of a pain in the butt (LAUGHS). If we can learn how to beat him, we’ll be looking good.”

HUNTER-REAY: ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS FOR THE COURSE? “The only concern is that in the past, we’ve been able to run over them (the curbs). They were still pretty big, but they were designed in way that we could hit them. We had to setup the car to get over them; but that would open up the corner and thus make it faster through the corner for us. But, now, we have to drive around them since they are so aggressive. Our concern is that it is going to lower our cornering speeds a little bit. We need these things to look as fast as possible on TV. Now, we may have to tiptoe around them. We’ll see.”

HUNTER-REAY: IS THIS SEASON THE MOST UNKNOWNS AS A DRIVER YOU HAVE HAD? “It is definitely the most unknowns. We have no idea, really, but it is exciting. Everyone is a contender and everyone has a chance at making their mark early in the season. At the same time, we could be having a great weekend doing everything you are asked to do, and things could fall through for you from a reliability standpoint. Chevy and Ilmor have done an amazing job with these engines in such a short amount of time. It really is a short amount of time. There are so many moving parts; so many variables involved in making these things go fast, it would honestly be expected there might be reliability issues, because we are just trying so many different things. So, yes, it is nerve-wracking to say the least.”

ANDRETTI: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW RULES AFFECTING THE DRIVERS? “We are race car drivers, we don’t anybody to pass us. I think it can be a little tricky, but I was definitely on-board for the rule change for blocking. They still don’t allow blocking. And blocking is different than defending. There is an art to defending. If you are the leader, if you want to come off the corner a little shallow, you should be able to drive down the straightaway wherever you came off the corner. Now you have to enter the next corner at a bit of a handicap. The guy behind actually has it better because he can set you up for the next corner. Definitely an art. One argument was there would be no passing on street circuits. I argued the opposite, because if someone is blocking me into turn one at Toronto, that is perfect for me because now I can get them down the back straightaway. He is not going to come off the next corner as quick. So, there is definitely an art to it.”

ANDRETTI: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE LEVEL OF COMPETITION IN THE SERIES? “It is the best it’s been. The competition from the drivers and the teams. In 2006, I’ll give you an example, I could be two-tenths off and still be in the top-six. Now, you aren’t making the top-six, you are probably 16th. It’s crazy. Now it’s all about that last two-tenths. Any driver can find that big step in speed. It’s about finding that last little bit. That last little bit is very detrimental today. This day and age puts an emphasis on pulling out what you have.”

HINCHCLIFFE: DOES YOUR EXPERIENCE IN INDY LIGHTS AT THIS TRACK HELP YOU? “I think my experience here in Indy Lights will serve a purpose. It will give me a little bit of a basis when we go out there. Obviously the car changes, but when you have track knowledge and you know you are in a different car, you know sort of what to expect from the car. You can take the different parts of the track that you know and sort of know roughly what is going to happen. The biggest difference now is actually the track more than the changes to the car. We were talking about the curves earlier; I think that is actually going to have more affect on my previous experience here in Indy Lights rather than the actual difference in the car.”

By Jim Tomlin, Times Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, March 14, 2012

SEBRING — Corvette Racing is banking on two young drivers in Saturday’s 12 Hours of Sebring who have known their way around Sebring International Raceway for much longer than they have been driving on it.

Both Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor are the sons of longtime sportscar figures and both live in Central Florida.

So going into this year’s 60th anniversary of the 12-hour classic, both have an appreciation for its history far beyond their years.

“I’ve watched it for 15 years so I’ve learned a lot from watching it but … I think it’s going to be a lot different when there are 64 cars on the track,” Taylor said last week.

Taylor, 20, is a student at UCF, when his racing schedule hasn’t taken him away. “I could be there for 15 years,” he said.

And, perhaps a reflection of how important sponsorship is in auto racing, he’s not an engineering major like many in racing but a business marketing major.

“Engineering was going to be way too hard,” he says.

Racing, and in particular Sebring, comes much more naturally for Taylor. His father, Wayne, owns the SunTrust team in the Grand-Am series. As a driver, the elder Taylor won the 24 Hours of Daytona twice and the 12 Hours of Sebring once, in 1996 with Jim Pace and Eric van de Poele.Milner, 26, is the son of longtime sportscar team owner Tom Milner. It took the younger Milner a bit longer to get into racing.

“When I was 15 my dad got me (into) a go-cart school out in California and from the first session I was hooked,” he said.

But his dad wasn’t so sure.

“If you ask him now his first reaction was, ‘Ah, there’s no future in this,’ ” Milner says with a laugh.

But Milner earned a spot in the Formula BMW series in 2004, where he competed against current IndyCar drivers Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe.

Rahal’s and Milner’s families go back a long way. Graham’s father, former Indy 500 winner and three-time CART champion Bobby, drove for Tom Milner in sportcars in the 1980s.

“Tommy and I had a lot of fun,” Rahal said last week at IndyCar testing in Sebring. “Tommy drove for my dad (in sportscars with Rahal Letterman) and I was teammates with Tommy here one year and at Petit Le Mans.”

Milner, a native of the Washington area, now lives in Lake Mary. Taylor is a Florida native living in Apopka. Both have built impressive credentials in their short sportscar careers.

Milner, who will drive the No. 4 Corvette C6 ZR1 with Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook, won the GTE Pro division last year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Olivier Beretta and Antonio Garcia.

Taylor, sharing duties in the No. 03 Corvette with Garcia and Jan Magnussen, was second in the Grand-Am series’ GT championship last year.

And both young drivers, though they have had experience with stars from all forms of racing, say they’re happy where they are now.

“If I had to pick today having — maybe — the opportunity to go to IndyCar, or staying in sportscars a long time, I would stay in sportscars a long time,” Milner said. “I would pick that in a heartbeat.”

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/autoracing/young-americans-jordan-taylor-and-tommy-milner-prepare-for-60th-annual-12/1219991