Excellent pit work, never-give-up spirit highlights 2017 opener

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 29, 2017) –Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller led Corvette Racing’s effort in the GT Le Mans class of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Sunday. The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R placed fourth in a battle that saw the top seven entries separated by 7.5 seconds after a grueling opening race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The No. 3 Corvette ran a nearly perfect race with no mistakes and incredible performances in pitlane. With a majority of the race run in cold, damp conditions, the Corvette Racing team found itself in position to challenge for a third straight Rolex 24 class victory heading into the final three hours.

Twice in the final two hours, the No. 3 Corvette crew sent Garcia out in the lead – making up four spots on the penultimate stop and three on the final stop. Over the last three stops of the race, the No. 3 Corvette gained nine positions. Garcia eventually finished 4.593 behind the class winner after coming back from a lap down in the early morning hours that saw rain soak Daytona International Speedway for more than 12 hours.

“It was a very good race today,” said Mark Reuss, Executive Vice President, Global Product Development, General Motors. “Everybody was on the same lap there in the end. All the manufacturers placed there one through four, so it was really a good race.

“They (Corvette Racing) never give up. They never lose hope. I think we won in the pits. I watched them beat all the other teams many times. This is a tough race to win. They did a great job, and I am very proud of the Corvette team.”

The No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R, the class-winner in 2016, placed ninth in GTLM after suffering a loss of power and a broken right-rear lower control arm following contact with another GTLM competitor near the six-hour mark. Gavin, Milner and Fässler all cycled through in the cold and wet conditions to help support the team’s strategy for the No. 3 Corvette.

The next event for Corvette Racing is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida on March 15-18 from Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida. The race will air from 12:30-11 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Corvette Racing has won at Sebring 10 times since 2001.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “I think we need to be happy with the race we had. In any race, you have to do your best and take it to 100 percent and more. Corvette Racing did that today – optimizing everything we had to have a perfect race and a perfect Corvette to the end. What else can you say about the pit stops? We made up so many positions and came out first so many times. When you have all that and don’t have the pace to keep it, it’s a shame. We gave everything we had. We congratulate the winners.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “It wasn’t what we wanted. We were just lacking a little bit of the speed that we needed to be able to fight at the end there. The team did a fantastic job there throughout the event. The pit work today was absolutely fantastic. We came out in front almost every time. Unfortunately we didn’t quite have the speed to stay there. Antonio did a fantastic job at the end, and Rocky drove really well too. This is a great group of drivers with a great crew, a great team and a great car in the Corvette. It just wasn’t quite enough this time.”

MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “We did all we could to try and win the race. The result is pretty much what we kind of expected after practice sessions if you look at the pure speed we had. Even though we had a good chance at the end, we knew it likely wouldn’t be for long because you need to have speed on the straights. We just didn’t have enough to stay ahead of the others but I have to say thanks to my teammates and my team. It was good fun in these difficult conditions. We kept fighting till the end. It was nice to be there at the end to feel the emotion of maybe winning the race. We were there again although not as close as last year. Everyone tried hard, and that’s racing. Congratulations to the 66 car. I think they deserved it. Today just wasn’t for us.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: “The first lap, as it always is here, was difficult to weigh the risks of looking to pass someone, shooting a gap with so many cars. You try to weigh the risks. It was a good first couple of laps. I was able to pass a couple of cars and it seemed to go backward and forward. Overall it was a good first stint. I was pleased to get it done and out of the way.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: “I was having fun which is a positive thing. We were so far behind that we were just trying to get laps back and doing everything we were supposed to. We were competitive aside from the incidents, which also makes it more fun. So some you win, some you don’t. With the contact early on and then the electrical problem we had, that is racing. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t.”

MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: “In those difficult conditions the only thing you can do is stay patient and stay on the track. It is really very easy to make big mistakes. It was very tough. Behind the spray on restarts you couldn’t see. We had to survive these showers before we could push again.”

Article by: Ryan Smith and Judy Kouba Dominick

Will Power puts Chevrolet on Podium with Runner-up Finish in Long Beach Grand Prix

Will Power capitalized on his front row starting position and scored a strong runner-up finish in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series (VICS) champion was credited with leading once for six laps in his No.12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Defending VICS champ Josef Newgarden was seventh at the finish behind the wheel of the No, 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Newgarden led three of 85 laps in today’s race, contested on the 1.968-mile, 11 turn temporary street circuit. He currently sits second in the standings with three of the 17-race schedule in the record books.

Tony Kanaan, No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, finished 8th. It is the second strong top-10 finish for the 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner in his inaugural season driving for Foyt.

Charlie Kimball brought home the first top-10 finish for Carlin in its first full-time season in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Driving the No. 23 Tresiba Chevrolet for Carlin, Kimball started 23 and finished 10th, his best finish at Long Beach in eight starts.

2016 Series’ champion Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 DXC Technologies Team Penske Chevrolet started third, but his race ended halfway through Turn 1 of Lap 1 when he was hit from behind, and unable to continue. He was scored in the 24th finishing position.

The remaining drivers of the Chevrolet 2.2 liter V6 twin turbo direct injected powered cars finished as follows:

Matheus Leist, No, 4 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet – 14th

Spencer Pigot, No. 21 Preferred Freezer Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet – 15th

Kyle Kaiser, No. 32 Juncos Racing Chevrolet – 16th

Max Chilton, No, 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet – 17th

Jordan King, No, 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet – 18th

Gabby Chaves, No. 88 Harding Group Harding Racing Chevrolet – 19th

Alexander Rossi (Honda) was the race winner, and Ed Jones (Honda) completed the podium.

Next on the schedule is the Honda Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama on April 22, 2018.

Article by Trackside Racing News

Three Team Chevy Drivers in Top 10

It was a solid day with a second place finish for Kyle Larson and his No. 42 DC Solar Camaro ZL1 in the Auto Club 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Auto Club Speedway. The defending event winner posted his third top-10 finish in five races at the challenging 2-mile California track. The result also marked Larson’s third top-10 finish thus far in the 2018 season. He was able to rally from contact with Kevin Harvick on Lap 37 of the 200-lap race, and then from a brake issue later in the event.

Jimmie Johnson, who has won at Auto Club Speedway six times, finished 9th in his No. 48 Lowe’s For Pros Camaro ZL1; and Austin Dillon, behind the wheel of his No. 3 Dow Coatings Camaro ZL1 was 10th in the final order.

Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota) was the race winner, Kyle Busch (Toyota) was third, Brad Keselowski (Ford) was fourth, and Joey Logano (Ford) finished fifth to round out the top 5.

The next race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) will be at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia for the STP 500 on Sunday, March 25 at 2:00 pm ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX1, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 POST RACE PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT:

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by our second place finisher in the 22nd Annual Auto Club 400, Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.

A tough, grueling race out there today, a lot of tire falloff. Talk about the race today.

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, it was a pretty tough race from the start. Fell back a little bit, was able to get past a few cars. Obviously Kevin and I had our issue there down the backstretch, just racing hard, side drafting each other for a few laps. I think he came down to maybe side draft down me, got in my right rear, it spun him pretty quick.

From then on we had to repair a little damage, come from the back. Was able to get to sixth or so into the first stage in a short amount of time, which was good.

Then there late, we had an issue with the left front on one of our pit stops, then had to come from the back again maybe that whole last run there.

It was good to get all the way to second. Would have liked to be one spot better, but we couldn’t even see Martin. Got to be a little bit better.

All in all, a good day. We fought hard. That’s all you can ask for.

THE MODERATOR:

THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with questions.

Q. Kyle, you were around Kevin (Harvick) obviously quite a bit there in the early going. Do you think he would have had anything for Truex at the end?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, it’s so hard to tell early in the race, but just the little bit I was around Kevin, I felt like he still had the best car. Who’s to say, though? Didn’t get to really race a whole lot. The little bit I was around him, his car seemed to get through one and two really good. I could be fairly even with him in three and four. One and two, he was really fast. I’m sure he would have made it better throughout the race.

But, yeah, I don’t know. He’ll be good every weekend.

Q. Kyle, what do you think it is that you’ve been able to find driving the new Chevy that the other teams can’t figure out yet?

KYLE LARSON: It’s nothing I’ve found. I don’t know, our race team has a lot of smart people within our organization. Any time we had a rules change over the last three or four years, the one off weekends like Darlington or Michigan, our team would do a good job, we’d be fast those weekends.

I think they just did a lot of homework on this new car. For whatever reason, we seem to be a little bit better than the other Chevy teams, which we were kind of last year, too.

But, yeah, I’ve been happy to see how we’ve started so far. But we still have a little ways to go to win.

Q. Kyle, when you were racing with Harvick, were you surprised you were racing as hard as you were? Did you think one of you was going to let the other person go?

KYLE LARSON: No, I wasn’t surprised that we were racing that hard, or he was racing me as hard as he was to try to hold me off. He had pitted a lap before me, so I had a lap fresher tires than him, was better than him at that point, in that little run we got in.

I think he knew he was better than I was overall, so he was just trying to hold me off, race me hard to maybe burn my stuff up, then he could stay in front of me, not have to worry about me 10, 15 laps later when he would be better than me.

I was actually having a lot of fun racing like that because this place is really cool, you can just kind of go wherever. I was a lot better than him in three and four. One and two, he was a little bit better than me in those few laps. Yeah, just got to battling really, really hard.

Q. Kyle, the radio chatter was fairly animated after that accident. Were you upset at all? Was there any damage that you felt impacted the ability of your car the rest of the race?

KYLE LARSON: No, I don’t really feel like any damage impacted us because we were able to drive to the front right after that.

Yeah, I mean, I was pretty amped up on the radio there right after just because I felt like at the time maybe he let his frustration build and kind of just ran into me down the backstretch, wrecked himself. I thought he would be mad at me or something like that, which I knew I didn’t do anything wrong at the time.

A couple minutes later, they let me know he was taking the blame for it on the radio, which was nice. I was able to chill out some.

Yeah, I mean, I respect Kevin a lot. I think he respects me a lot, too. You never want to see anything like that happen.

Q. The issue they had to fix, was that something that broke or a mistake?

KYLE LARSON: I haven’t exactly seen what broke. Sounded like brake duct or something fell in between the wheel. Yeah, I don’t know if that was something the pit crew guys hit and broke or whatever. I’m just glad I could feel it under that caution and was able to pit. That would have ruined our day, had I not.

Article by Nancy Wager

Camaro ZL1 Driver, Kyle Larson Leads

After completing 204 circuits around Bristol Motor Speedway, the remainder of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 has been postponed to Monday, April 16th due to persistent rain.

Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver, Kyle Larson, was scored as the leader when the race was suspended. The theme thus far in the eighth race of the 2018 Cup Series season has been stop and go. The start of the Food City 500 was slightly delayed in order to get the track dry from morning rain showers. Three red flag periods, two for weather and one for an on-track multi-car accident, halted the green-flag action for a total of 51 minutes.

When the event restarts Monday at 1:00 p.m., ET, seven Team Chevy drivers will restart in the Top 15 spots. Seven-time Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, will continue his quest for a third Bristol win from the eighth position. 2018 Daytona 500 winner, Austin Dillon, will pilot his No. 3 Realtree Camaro ZL1 from the 10th spot. Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1 will recommence the race from 12th followed by fellow Team Chevy driver Ryan Newman, No. 31 Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Camaro ZL1 in 13th and Rookie of the Year contender, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 in 15th.

Live coverage of the remainder of the Food City 500 can been seen at 1:00 p.m., ET on FOX, PRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Article by Trackside Racing News

Seventh victory for Corvette Racing, Team Chevy in IMSA at Long Beach

• 50th victory for Oliver Gavin with Corvette Racing

• Garcia, Magnussen battle back to finish fourth in GTLM

• 107th all-time class victory for Corvette Racing

Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner raced their way to back-to-back victories in southern California by claiming the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix of Long Beach for the second year in a row. The duo won by 2.157 seconds in their No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.

It was the 107th class victory all-time for Corvette Racing and the first of its 20th season of competition. The team also won for the 16th time in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

“This team just does not give up,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “ While we didn’t have the ideal starting position, Olly and Tommy took advantage of every opportunity on track and the crew executed in the pits. Congratulations to the No. 4 Corvette team for back-to-back wins at Long Beach.”

Gavin also won for the 50th time with Corvette Racing – the most of any driver in program history. He now has five victories at Long Beach… three of them with Milner.

Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished fourth in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in what ended up being a comeback drive for Garcia. A mechanical issue dropped him from second to eighth on a restart with 52 minutes left.

Gavin started the race fifth and drove the first 40 minutes before handing off to Milner during a full-course caution period. The No. 4 Corvette crew leap-frogged the No. 66 Ford in the pitlane, and Milner joined third among GTLM cars that stopped during the yellow.

The first car in class out of the pitlane was the No. 3 Corvette, which gained two spots on the stop. Magnussen started fourth and moved to third on the opening lap. Things looked to be going the way of the No. 3 Corvette until it didn’t go in gear on the restart. Once Garcia got under way, he went from eighth to fourth in the span of 36 minutes. He ended less than two seconds from a podium position.

Meanwhile, Milner went from third to second with 37 minutes left and took the lead for good 15 minutes later. It was a much more conventional victory than a year ago when he and Gavin won after the track became blocked in the final corner, and he got around the stuck No. 3 Corvette.

Corvette Racing’s next event is May 4-6 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Article by Trackside Racing News

Photo by Richard Prince

Cooper second, O’Connell third

Lexington, Ohio, Cadillac V-Performance drivers Michael Cooper (Syosset, N.Y.) and Johnny O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) raced to second and third place finishes respectively in today’s running of the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio.

At the drop of the green on the long Mid-Ohio back straight Cooper in the Vector Blue No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe slotted in behind the pole sitting and eventual winning McLaren of Alvaro Parente. Closely behind Cooper was his teammate O’Connell in the Velocity Red No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe. The race was uneventful until a caution flew with just 18-minutes remaining. On the restart a lapped car was between Cooper and leader Parente, which allowed the McLaren driver to seal the win and the Cadillac racing duo had to settle for second and third on the day.

“I don’t know if we ran too many qualifying laps and hurt the rear tires, but the car was a handful,” Cooper said. “I was hanging on out there, the car was loose on the rear tires. Johnny may have been a little faster, but I appreciate him running me clean and not making a move. We are going to stay up late tonight and make some adjustments for tomorrow. The Cadillac Racing guys will figure it out. I am happy with second today.”

“We had a really good Cadillac today,” O’Connell said. “I might have been able to play with the McLaren a little, but it wasn’t worth taking a risk on getting by Michael and risking both cars. I am pleased with third and Michael taking second. I will be ready and if the car is as good tomorrow as it was today I can move up.”

The Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio race two will take the green flag at 12 p.m. ET tomorrow and will be televised on CBS Sports the same day at 2 p.m. ET.

Article by Kyle Chura

O’Connell third, Cooper fifth

Elkhart Lake, Wis., Cadillac V-Performance driver Johnny O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) drove the No. 3 Velocity Red Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe to a third place finish in race two of the World Challenge Championship (PWC) World Challenge Grand Prix of Road America today. Teammate Michael Cooper (Syosset, N.Y) drove his No. 8 Vector Blue Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe to a fifth place.

Based on lap times from yesterday’s race, O’Connell started third and Cooper lined-up next to him in fourth on the second row. On the first lap they were able to complete the circuit in the same positions in which they started. A full course caution flew for an incident in Turn 5. On the restart into Turn 5 Cooper was passed by the No. 31 Ferrari and another incident in the infamous Turn 5 caused a red flag stoppage to the race, just three laps into the scheduled 50-minute event. When the race restarted with less than 20 minutes allowed to race the Cadillac duo of O’Connell and Cooper finished in third and fifth respectively.

“It was a better result for us today,” O’Connell said. “Yesterday we had a good car, but for what happened in Turn 5 when I got turned. The guys, as they always do, improved on the car overnight. I was able to get a good start and held third. The Bentley and the Porsche were just a tick better than us this weekend. I needed Patrick Long in the Porsche and Adderly Fong in the Bentley to dice it up a little so I could get to them, but that didn’t happen. Heck, I am leaving Road America with a trophy, so hopefully our luck has turned.”

“It was a wild race,” Cooper said. “I thought we were looking good to be in contention with the front guys. Then the 31 Ferrari put a crazy move on me into Turn 5 and that is where I got stuck to the checker. I mounted a few attacks on him. Every time I did he was a bit reckless, so I thought it was a good idea to take the points and move onto Mid-Ohio.”

The Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Road America race from today will be broadcast this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET on the CBS Sports Network. The series will travel to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, July 28-30 for another round of sprint events.

Article written by Kyle Chura

Cooper third, O’Connell comes back to eighth

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

Cooper and Jordan Taylor fourth, O’Connell and Ricky Taylor 11th

Cadillac V-Performance drivers Michael Cooper (Syosset, N.Y) and Jordan Taylor (Apopka, Fla.) finished fourth in the first of a double race weekend at the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX Championship at Lime Rock Park today. Teammates Johnny O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) and Ricky Taylor (Lake Mary, Fla.) were classified 11th in class (26th overall) after an on track incident.

Earlier in the afternoon, under rainy conditions, Cooper drove the No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe to a fifth place qualifying run with a time of 58.02 around the 1.5-mile, 7-turn Lime Rock Park circuit which had him start race one from the third. O’Connell had the wheel of the No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe for qualifying and posted a lap time of 58.29 on Pirelli wet tires that had him start from the fourth row in eighth.

At the start of the race Cooper was able to slot the Vector Blue ATS-V.R into fourth place for the opening stint of the 60-minute race. Thirty-two minutes into the race both Cadillac race cars pitted for the mandatory driver change. Jordan Taylor exited the pits in the No. 8 Cadillac followed by his brother Ricky in the No. 3. Seven minutes later Ricky, running fifth, was hit from behind by the No. 14 Porsche which sent him into the wall outside of Turn 1. The wet conditions had him stuck and a full course caution flew to extricate the Velocity Red ATS-V.R from the tire wall. On the restart Jordan Taylor was able to hold his position and come to the checkered flag in fourth.

“It was a pretty good run for the No. 8 car,” Cooper said. “We moved up from fifth to fourth. There was a lot of excitement out there with the lap traffic at this tight track. We will take some good points and move on to tomorrow. That Porsche is pretty quick.”

“Our run was ok,” Jordan Taylor said. “We had a top three or four car. Michael and I were held up by the No. 2 Mercedes, if we could have got by him we were on the podium. Some guys are more disrespectful than others when you come up on them, like what happened to Ricky. I think we can go on to tomorrow with some good fourth place points. It could have been worse, could have been better. We will come back and race hard tomorrow.”

“Disappointing,” O’Connell said. “We had a fourth or fifth place run going. It is unfortunate what happened. My start was pretty good. Everyone was clean. Traffic played into the hands of the Porsche and Audi. By the time I got a good gap to get a fast lap for tomorrow the edge was off of the tire. From third to sixth place the GT cars are very close. The Porsche and Audi seem to have a little more.”

“I think a lack of experience and maybe getting into the ABS a little too much so he couldn’t stop resulted in me being punted off the track,” Ricky Taylor said. “I never saw him coming. I haven’t seen the video, but I am not sure why he went for that move he is not even racing in our class. I thought our race was going pretty good. We were in a good points position. It is a shame to have it end that way.”

Article written by: Kyle Chura

Cooper and Jordan Taylor first,O’Connell and Ricky Taylor third

Cadillac V-Performance Racing drivers Michael Cooper (Syosset, N.Y) and Jordan Taylor (Apopka, Fla.) won the first to two races in the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) today. Teammates Johnny O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) and Ricky Taylor (Lake Mary, Fla.) completed the podium in third.

Cooper had the wheel of the No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R for the start of the 60-minute race. He started 22nd in the 34 car field due to not being able to make a timed lap in qualifying. The team’s strategy was to wait until the end of the 10-minute window to pit Cooper and insert Jordan Taylor. As luck would have it, as the other teams cycled through their pit stops, Cooper brought the Vector Blue Cadillac ATS-V.R to pit lane for the driver change at the 33-minute mark in first place. At the nearly the same time a full course yellow flew. This allowed Jordan Taylor to take over and return to the race still in the lead, in the middle of the field with a nearly half-lap lead.

“That was about the easiest race I have ever won,” Jordan Taylor said. “Michael did the hard work, he passed about 12 cars during his stint at the start. When we pitted we were basically a lap ahead. It was a strategy call that won the race and the yellow really helped. Michael did a great job. It was my job to bring it home. It is harder to drive when you are not under pressure and don’t have to push, the car handles completely different. I was just being cautious not to make a mistake.”

“The first couple of laps were about passing the GTA guys,” Cooper said. “I just did my job, executed and made clean passes. Once I got to the pros it got a little tougher, but I was able to make some good passes. The team made a great call and we got lucky with the yellow. Jordan did a great job to bring it home for the win. Incredible to go from last to first in a 60-minute race.”

O’Connell and Ricky Taylor also had a great run. O’Connell was able to run strong in third place when he turned the car over to the older Taylor brother. Ricky jumped in the Velocity Red Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe 30-minutes into the race. He returned to the fray and was able to hold the position and take the last step on the podium for a Cadillac one – three finish.

“I thought we were second the whole time, it turns out the No. 8 car was leading,” Ricky Taylor said. “It is nice to get a result for Cadillac. I think the rubber from the NASCAR guys who practiced before us changed the track. Our car was a bit of a handful. We executed well in the pits and that is where we got by the Mercedes and got a gap on the Bentley. The team performed well today.”

“You never know what is going to happen in this SprintX racing,” O’Connell said. “The No. 8 guys must be Irish and I must be adopted, they had the luck today. I am proud of the job Ricky and I did. We had a good race, no mistakes. Just about everyone got caught out with the yellow. I would execute the same way again. We made up time on the Porsche and went from third to second in that stop. Luck has always been a part of racing. We were luckier today than at VIR [Virginia International Raceway].”

Article written by: Kyle Chura