Cadillac Racing’s Michael Cooper won the second Pirelli World Challenge race at Mid Ohio Sunday in his Cadillac ATS-V.R, while teammate Johnny O’Connell gave the team a double podium with a third place finish.
Cooper started from the front row after qualifying second and got a strong start, racing pole sitter Alvaro Parente into Turn 1. The Cadillac driver stayed on the outside of Parente through Turn 2, making the pass stick on the exit.
Now leading the race, Cooper began to feel pressure from eventual second place finisher Ryan Eversly in his Acura TLX. Eversly attempted to pass Cooper several times, but the 26-year old managed to hold him off to take his second win of the season.
Teammate O’Connell, meanwhile, found himself in a hard fought battle for third after starting fifth. The veteran racer was able to take the final podium spot when Parente was forced wide off track while racing in traffic.
“A great weekend for Cadillac,” O’Connell said post-race “Mike did an awesome job winning that race under big pressure. We started fifth and finished third, always proud when we can move up like that and finish on the podium.”
Cadillac Racing didn’t enjoy such a positive result in the first race of the double-header weekend. Starting from the fifth row, Cooper was forced to immediately take evasive action as cars spun in front of him. This brought out the first of three cautions, with Cooper and O’Connell capitalizing on the restarts to improve position.
On the last restart, Cooper was again forced to avoid a potential wreck by driving onto the grass. When the checkered flag came out, O’Connell was sixth and Cooper was seventh.
The Pirelli World Challenge heads to Utah Motorsports Campus the weekend of August 12th for Rounds 16 and 17 of the championship. Click here for full results from Mid Ohio Race 1 and here for results from Race 2.
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