Cadillac Racing drivers Michael Cooper and Johnny O’Connell are looking forward to this weekend’s rounds 14 and 15 Pirelli World Challenge GT Championship to run at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, July 29-30.
Cooper (Syosset, N.Y.) and O’Connell are ready to take on the 2.25-mile, 13-turn undulating Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course located an hour north of Columbus. The track is a driver favorite. Both Cadillac Racing drivers have posted wins at the track and count it as one of their favorites on the PWC schedule. Cooper is third in the GT point standings with 1,025 (118 behind leader Alvaro Parente). O’Connell took a big hit in the points with two tough finishes at the last race at Road America and sits fourth in the points with 957.
“Mid-Ohio is special to me, I started my first Pirelli World Challenge GT race there back in 2013,” Cooper said. “In addition to that I’ve had some good results at the track. I’m always excited going into these weekends because I feel like we have a shot to win. A lot of that is down to the preparation that Cadillac Racing does heading into the weekend. These guys have been working tirelessly, combing through notes and data from earlier in the year, as well as years past. Leaving no stone unturned to make sure the car is at its optimum for the race weekend.”
O’Connell is motivated to come back from a challenging couple of race weekends.
“Combine our bad luck at Road America as well as the flat tire at Lime Rock, and we really do find ourselves in a challenging situation,” O’Connell said. “But for that I think we’d be where we need to be at this point in the season. The thing is it seems every season, we have to fight back from adversity. The Cadillac Racing team always seems to be motivated by the challenge of being a little bit of an underdog. Mid-Ohio is very hard to predict, especially not knowing how the performance of each car will shake out. Pretty much since Barber it’s been unpredictable. The track in my opinion will tend to suit the Porsche, and McLaren, and I wouldn’t count the Audi out either.”
O’Connell has fond memories of racing at Mid-Ohio.
“It was at Mid-Ohio, that I got my first PWC win for Cadillac (in 2011). I’d been running third, behind Mike Skeen’s Corvette, and Randy Pobst and his Volvo. They tangled in the Keyhole on the last lap and I went on to win. Ohio is also where Olivier Beretta and I had a bit of a moment exiting pit lane back in the Corvette days. That also was pretty cool – when I look back on it.”
The Pirelli World Challenge Series races from Mid-Ohio Sports Car course will be televised Sunday, August 4 at 4 p.m. Fans can follow the race weekend action via livestream at via https://world-challenge.com/streamvideo.
The Pirelli World Challenge Series will travel to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car course for rounds 14 and 15 to run July 29-30.
Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupe 2016 Results
Track | Drivers | Start | Finished |
|---|---|---|---|
Circuit of the Americas | Johnny O'Connell
Michael Cooper | 3 3 2 5 | 5 1 3 2 |
St. Petersburg | Johnny O'Connell
Michael Cooper | 3 3 5 8 | 3 5 4 3 |
Long Beach | Johnny O'Connell Michael Cooper | 2 22 | 2 15 |
Barber Motorsports Park | Johnny O'Connell
Michael Cooper | 4 3 1 2 | 3 3 2 1 |
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park | Johnny O'Connell
Michael Cooper | 12 13 10 10 | 12 9 11 7 |
Lime Rock Park | Johnny O'Connell
Michael Cooper | 5 3 8 7 | 3 17 8 14 |
Road America | Johnny O'Connell
Michael Cooper | 5 9 6 6 | 19 20 7 3 |