Cadillac Racing's Cooper and O'Connell Second and Third at Barber

Cadillac Racing drivers Michael Cooper and Johnny O'Connell drove to second and third place finishes respectively in race one at the Pirelli World Challenge Alabama Grand Prix presented by Porsche.

Cooper (Syosset, N.Y.) was the pole sitter for race one. When the green flag dropped on the 50-minute race Alvaro Parente was able to get the power down in his mid-engined McLaren and take the lead into Turn 1. Cooper slotted in behind followed closely by teammate O'Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.). On lap seven the Cadillac ATS-V Coupe Pace Car was dispatched for a full course caution. On the restart, six laps later, Cooper and O'Connell were not able to make-up ground and brought their Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupes to the checker in second and third.

"On the start I didn't have my engine rpm up enough and I was a little slow reacting," said Cooper. "Parente nailed the start and just got by me. I was making some gains on some parts of the track on him before the yellow. Maybe if it went a few more laps at that time I would've had a shot at him. When the tires cycled through after the yellow I just couldn't get back to him to make a pass. Tomorrow I start second. We will take a look at everything tonight and see if we can go a little a quicker."

O'Connell knows having two Cadillac's on the podium is a good day.

"I had a pretty good start, I think one of the Nissan's got into me a little," said O'Connell. "I was watching Michael and Alvaro ahead of me the whole time. I was able to manage my tires and get right up there at the end. I used everything Pirelli gave us today. We didn't get the win, but both Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupes on the podium is a pretty good day."

The Pirelli World Challenge series race two from Barber Motorsports Park will take the green flag at 10:15 a.m. ET tomorrow. Live streaming of the event can be viewed at world-challenge.com/streamvideo/. The race will be televised Sunday, May 1 at 4 p.m. ET.

Contact:

kyle@kcapr.com

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