O’Connell on Pole at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Return
 |
| Johnny O'Connell |
| Richard Prince/GM |
Cadillac Racing driver Johnny O'Connell will start his No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R from the pole position for the first of two Pirelli World Challenge races this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport). Teammate Andy Pilgrim will start eighth.
Cadillac Racing has rebounded from the fire at Barber Motorsport Park three weeks ago to sit on pole for race one which will take the green tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. ET. Johnny O'Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) drove the test car, which was commissioned to become the No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R for this weekendto top honors in qualifying posting a time of 1:15.296. The pole position is the second for the all-new ATS-V.R. The first was teammate Pilgrim in the second race at St. Petersburg. Pilgrim will start his No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R from the fourth row in eighth based upon his time of 1:15.957.
"What a great way to reward this hard working Cadillac Racing team," O'Connell said. "We have had luck over the past few years on our side, it hasn't worked in our favor once this year, but it has finally come right. I can't thank everyone enough for all of the work to come back from the fire and put the hours into a car that is now on the pole. I've been racing here longer than a lot of the guys I am competing against have been alive. It was probably one of the best laps I have ever driven at this track. I knew I had to dig deep, carry the momentum and just float the car through the corners. It is a neat thing when you have an idea of how good a lap is coming together, it could be good, it could be good and it was a good one. I was pretty pleased with the lap."
Pilgrim has been battling some handling issues so far this weekend.
"Congratulations to Johnny on the pole," Pilgrim said. "I have had a pretty tough weekend so far. We are having some trouble getting the No. 8 Cadillac to handle just right. We went a lot faster than we did in practice, so I am happy with that aspect. My guys worked really hard to get me where we are at now. I still have some oversteer issues, so we have some more changes coming for the race tomorrow."
The Pirelli World Challenge Series races from Canadian Tire Motorsports Park will be televised on CBS Sports Network Sunday, May 24 at 5 p.m. ET. Live streaming is available at world-challengetv.com.