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Mosport Thrills Team Cadillac Drivers Pilgrim, O’Connell

Legendary Canadian track a solid challenge for CTS-V drivers

2011-05-19

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BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – Team Cadillac drivers Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim consider Mosport International Raceway a definite step up on the thrill meter, and that’s bad news for the rest of the competition.

“Mosport is one of my favorite tracks, because it’s fast and it’s a little bit dangerous,” said O’Connell, driver of the No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V. “It’s old-school, and I like to go fast.”

After two street courses and the wild and wide-open Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, Mosport marks a return to the traditional road courses that both O’Connell and Pilgrim grew up racing. The pair earned top-five finishes at Miller, with O’Connell finishing fourth and Pilgrim fifth.

The two-round weekend will feature the first chance the sporty CTS-V Coupes will have to build on the results in Utah, where O’Connell challenged the lead pack all day long and Pilgrim raced from the back of the pack after a start-line incident.

Prior to the race at Utah, World Challenge officials made technical changes to the CTS-Vs that saw an increase in the sonic restrictor opening. An additional 100 pounds of ballast was also added. Thanks to some setup changes, both cars were able to compete on a slightly more even playing field with the other manufacturers.

It’s not even, but it got a little closer, said Pilgrim.

“We made some good progress [at Utah], and I’m very happy with the way it went, but we’re just getting killed on the straights,” he said.

The aerodynamic balance was improved, thanks to the setup changes, which should factor heavily in the performance at the speedy Mosport track, which features some fast corners in its 10-turn, 2.4-mile layout.

The race at Utah on April 30 was a good points day for Team Cadillac. O’Connell jumped from seventh to fifth in driver points, and Pilgrim leapfrogged two spots to eighth after four races. In the manufacturers’ race, Team Cadillac sits second behind Porsche and ahead of Volvo.

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.

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