Cadillac Racing hadn’t won a race since the finale of the 2007 World Challenge season when Andy Pilgrim took the checkered flag at Laguna Seca driving the team’s previous-generation Cadillac CTS-V sedan. This past weekend, the Wreath and Crest’s factory team finally won again since returning to the sport this season after a three-year absence, but this time at Mid-Ohio with Andy’s teammate, Johnny O’Connell, behind the wheel of the team’s new CTS-V Coupe.
We happened to be at Mid-Ohio for race one of this past weekend’s World Challenge double header in which O’Connell was running second and could’ve easily won had his car not spun off the track after contact with another GT Class Corvette. We just happened to catch the CTS-V Coupe’s off-track excursion, including how O’Connell passed the Corvette that contacted him after returning to pavement (check out the video below).
O’Connell finished eighth that race, but had an opportunity for redemption in race two of the double-header on Sunday. Things went Cadillac’s way this time when, after working his way up from seventh to third, O’Connell took advantage of last-lap contact between the two race leaders to take the win.
Cadillac Racing hasn’t had the same level of success yet that seemed to come so much easier with the previous generation CTS-V sedan. We’ve discussed at length why, which has more to do with added weight and restrictor plates mandated by the governing body than the racing abilities of Pilgrim and O’Connell or the vehicle’s ultimate potential. Now that the team has tasted success again, it probably won’t be as long between victories.
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