New Cadillac ATS-V.R Ready for First Street Race

Cadillac Racing drivers Johnny O'Connell and Andy Pilgrim are ready to race the all-new Cadillac ATS-V.R in its first street race at the St. Petersburg Cadillac Grand Prix to run Mar. 27 - 29.

Coming off a strong opening season race at the Circuit of the America's (COTA) O'Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) and Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) will be focused on getting the LF4.R's twin-turbo engine power down to the changing track surfaces at the 1.4-mile, 14-turn St. Pete street circuit. O'Connell brings a resume of a win (2013) and five podium finishes at St. Pete into this year's race.

"The first street race for the ATS-V.R includes some unknowns," O'Connell said. "Of these, is just the fact that the car is running on a street course in competition for the first time. We have a lot of data from two generations of the CTS-V.R race cars so I know the Cadillac Racing guys will have a good baseline to start with on Thursday afternoon.

"Qualifying for me has always been one of my favorite parts of the weekend. It's where you put everything on the line and get everything out of your car. Normally on street circuits passing can be very challenging. There are a few areas at St. Pete like the end of the front straight and some others that I prefer, that I will keep to myself. Thus qualifying will be extremely important as always. However, even if we don't qualify well, we can get a good start, have a good race car and get a good result."

"I think engine wise we should be fine," O'Connell continued. "At COTA we saw where we are strong versus others and where others were strong versus us. Everyone is truly very close. The key for myself, as always, is to be as smooth as I possibly can at applying the power from the LF4.R engine."

Pilgrim will be working with the Cadillac Racing engineers on getting the ATS-V.R handling over the bumps and transitions as well as trying to avoid an expensive Turn Two from the standing starts.

"The biggest thing the engineers have to deal with at a street race is the heaves and bumps in the track," Pilgrim said. "Also the numerous pavement changes can also be a challenge as the surface changes every year due to daily use. This car is much stiffer than the last generation CTS-V.R and how quickly we can calm the car down and still keep a good pace will be important.

"Qualifying will be critical at St. Pete. If you get mired back in a 40 car field you could be in for a long 50-minutes of racing. I am expecting Turn One on the first lap and on restarts to be entertaining, to say the least. My bet, we'll be looking at six cars wide grinding down to one lane. That will be one exotic sandwich. The only thing that goes with that? A pound or two of caviar, because damn it'll be expensive."

"The very tight corners at St. Pete in the back sections will make it tricky to get the power down," Pilgrim continued. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of turbo lag in the Cadillac LR4.R engine and the torque we have should help us this weekend. However, the changing grip through the weekend and crowned surfaces of the street course will make it tough to get traction. A really spot on set-up will be a huge advantage at St Pete."

The St. Petersburg Cadillac Grand Prix will run Mar. 27 - 29. The races (Sat. Mar. 10 at 11:10 a.m. and Sun. Mar. 11 at 10:45 a.m.) from St. Petersburg can be streamed live at world-challenge.com. The races will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network Sunday, April 5, at 5 p.m. ET.

Since the team's inception in 2004, Team Cadillac has amassed 26 wins, 91 podium finishes (including wins) and 22 pole positions. The team won the World Challenge Manufacturer Championship in 2005, 2007, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Team Cadillac drivers have won the World Challenge Driver's Championship in 2005 with Andy Pilgrim and in 2012, 2013 and 2014 with Johnny O'Connell.

Media Contact:

Kyle Chura

kyle@kcapr.com