Photos: SCCA Pro Racing, Inc.

Cadillac Racing’s return to competition at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg street course saw Johnny O’Connell, of Gainesville, GA, bring the #3 CTS-V coupe home in fourth place while teammate, Andy Pilgrim of Marina Del Rey, FL, finished eighth in the #8 CTS-V coupe.

The two drivers had taken their time through the practice sessions learning the temporary street course as well as their new cars, with O’Connell running of the lead pace by a full second, with Pilgrim following closely behind.

O’Connell qualified the #3 Cadillac into sixth place on the start grid for the first race of the weekend, with a 1:16.610 performance, while Pilgrim would start the #8 car from P8, just a quarter second slower.

Saturday morning drew a field of 49 cars in the sunny, 74 degree weather for the opening round of the Pirelli World Challenge. The race would run 34 laps or 50 minutes, whichever came first, around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street course.

Introduction of the Pirelli slick race tires has already resulted in broken records in every class. Last season, all cars ran on DOT-approved, non-slick tires.

The field took off from a standing start, but a three-car incident just nine minutes later slowed the pace for a full 30 minutes while cleanup was going on. When the green flag fell with just eight minutes remaining, O’Connell had shuffled up to P5 and would pick up one more spot when the second place car spun out on the last lap.

Saturday’s best lap times served as qualifying for Sunday’s race, so O’Connell would start in sixth place with Pilgrim right beside him in P7. The Sunday afternoon race started without incident, but the leaders ran into traffic within six laps of the start. A two car incident slowed the pack, but cleanup was quicker this time, leaving about 14 minutes to go.

The Cadillacs had been running off pace by about a second, but both driver are doing their best to maintain position. They have also managed to stay out of the incidents and, at the finish, each had slipped one place, to 7th for O’Connell and 8th for Pilgrim.

O’Connell was jubilant at the end. “That was one of the most wild and fun races ever,” he said. “We survived. We came away with good points. It gives you a lot to look forward to for the rest of the season. I’m very optimistic.”

Pilgrim was a bit more sanguine in his view. “It’s a good first weekend,” he commented. “Both cars are sort of OK. We’ve got a little bit of damage. But we got some points. We got some experience, and we go on from here.”

The event was Cadillac Racing’s first competition event since 2007. The current cars were put together in just eight months with the assistance of Pratt & Miller, in New Hudson, MI. Although output from the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine has been restricted to 535 hp (556 originally), the car has been lightened by a thousand pounds from the production version.

The Pirelli World Challenge Championships return to action at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 15 through 17.