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Elkhart Lake, Wis., Cadillac V-Performance driver Michael Cooper (Syosset, N.Y) drove his No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe to a third place finish today in the Pirelli World Challenge Championship (PWC) World Challenge Grand Prix of Road America. Teammate Johnny O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) drove a comeback race to finish eighth.
At the drop of the green O’Connell, from his front row starting position, had a nose on the eventual winner Adderly Fong’s Bentley going into Turn 1. The pair were side-by-side going into Turn 5 when Fong had contact with
O’Connell at the exit sending the No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe spinning. Cooper was able to move forward from sixth and slot into fifth. Over the next series of laps Cooper drove to third by lap nine. Meanwhile O’Connell was raging back from 22nd to finish eighth.
“It was a pretty good run from sixth for the No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R,” Cooper said. “We worked hard on the car through practice and it paid-off in the race. We were able to get runs on guys and make some moves to pass. We weren’t quite as quick as the Porsche or the Bentley. We will take a look at the data and see if we need to make some changes to get on the top step of the podium tomorrow.”
“I am hugely disappointed,” O’Connell said. “We had a great Cadillac today. I was able to fight back from 22nd up to eighth. That just gives me extra motivation for race two tomorrow.”
The Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Road America race two will start at 10:55 a.m. ET tomorrow. Follow the action at MotorTrendOnDemand.com. The race will be broadcast on the same day, Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on the CBS Sports Network.
Article written by: Kyle Chura
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