No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R drivers Jordan Taylor and Michael Cooper won this weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge SprintX race from Canadian Tire Motorsports Park after an expert pit strategy call by their Cadillac Racing team.
After a tough qualifying session Friday, Cooper was forced to start at the back of the World Challenge GT grid. This allowed the team to gamble and extend their first tire stint as long as possible – strategy that had huge payoffs. AÂ yellow flag came out just as the team was about to pit, allowing them to pit under caution when the rest of the field had already pitted under green flag conditions. Taylor exited the pits nearly a full lap ahead of the next closest competitor and drove a solid stint to bring home the win.
The No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R sister car of Johnny O’Connell and Ricky Taylor was third after qualifying fourth. They battled with the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 for much of the race, which turned up second. The CRP Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 of local driver Daniel Morad and Ryan Dalziel was also in the running for a podium early on and may have nudged the O’Connell/Taylor car out of the top three had it not been for a slow stop in the pits.
The second race of the SprintX weekend from CTMP was cancelled due to heavy rain at the track. The race will be made up at a later date at a different track, however World Challenge officials have yet to make an official decision.
Click here for full results from Race 1. Check out the video below for race highlights.
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