Team Cadillac finishes 1-2 at Sebring

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Anybdoy watch the race today? Andy Pilgrim had an awesome day. After stalling his car out in the beginning of the race he managed to go from last place to second and give Team Cadillac the 1-2 finish in their first race of the season. It was an awesome race

[ShadowLvr400]

Sadly, I had to miss it. Had to go to a study group for my Ethical Theory class.

[c5 rv]

Excellent viewing! I got my ironing done while watching the race.

[CADDYBLACK99]

That was awesome!
Andy Pilgram did a great job passing 28 cars to come in second. The sound of the engine on the in-car camera was very nice too! I like the sound of "Cadillac finishes 1-2" also. I think it is going to be a great year!

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Originally Posted by CADDYBLACK99

That was awesome!
Andy Pilgram did a great job passing 28 cars to come in second. The sound of the engine on the in-car camera was very nice too! I like the sound of "Cadillac finishes 1-2" also. I think it is going to be a great year!

By the way the annoucers were talking it seems that Team Cadillac has the biggest budget out of all the teams. But I could be wrong. I'm just starting to get into the Speed Channel series so I'm still learning about their system. But either way it was good watching

[HUGE59Fins]

Ahhhh, I had practice and I totally forgot about it! . Glad of the 1-2 finish though.

[gothicaleigh]

The AWD Audis came off the grid first, but by the third lap one of the Caddys was in the lead and held first the whole race. Even more impressive, the number two Caddy had clutch problems on the grid and stalled. But it came from a half lap disadvantage to take second.

They add 75lbs. to the winning car of each race in the series(all placing cars receive some lesser amount) up to a maximum of 275lbs. The added weight is removed if they place poorly in the following race though.

After the V's performance at Sebring, I hardly think that the 75lbs. will lessen it's chances. Speed's in-car audio/video shows that the CTS-V's were barely being pushed during Sebring. There are turns where the drivers were using no throttle whatsoever and weren't really hammering it coming out of them either...

I'm afraid that the SCCA will rule against the V and come up with some kind of restriction beyond the additional weight. The drivers were playing it safe and holding back so the inevitable verdict against them wouldn't be so harsh. Coming from a stalled car on the starting grid and last place all the way to second place(the car walked, no ran, past everyone else on the straights)is going to cause a stir. Obviously our number one car wasn't pushing itself to the limit.

Either way, it was impressive. The V, with it's unique edges and chrome mesh grill really stands out on the track.

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Italian Max Angelelli and Team Cadillac Floridian teammate Andy Pilgrim put on an impressive display in their SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT debut at Sebring International Raceway Friday, as part of the Mobil 1 52nd Annual 12 Hours of Sebring event. While polesitter Angelelli led the majority of the event to capture his first SPEED GT win, Pilgrim stalled the car at the start of the race and had to pass 28 cars to finish second. Michael Galati, of Olmsted , Ohio , finished third.

After much anticipation as to how the Cadillac CTS- V would perform under race conditions, all questions were answered when Angelelli piloted the No. 16 Cadillac/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose Cadillac CTS- V to a solid win. He edged out his teammate by 0.358sec margin of victory in a formation finish at a record average speed of 99.903mph.

“I knew I had a good car,” Angelelli said. “My car, at the moment, is slightly faster than the Audi and I just drove to the win.

Pilgrim, who drove the No. 8 Cadillac/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose Cadillac CTS- V , knew something was wrong with his car just prior to the start, Pilgrim’s car stalled. The result left Pilgrim hoping the cars behind his third starting spot would not hit him as they went by. Despite the snafu, Pilgrim recovered nicely setting the new fast race lap record of 2:10.249 (101.272 mph) as he passed every car in the field except his teammate to capture second place. It was Pilgrim’s ninth career SPEED World Challenge podium finish.

“I noticed coming out of the pits the clutch was a bit low, so I put the clutch in and it was coming up only half the distance off the floor,” Pilgrim said of his start. “So, I thought, ‘No big deal.’ When I fired it up to do the parade lap, it started creeping forward almost as soon as I lifted the clutch pedal off the floor. And, I thought, ‘This isn’t good. Something’s going on here.’

“When it came time to do the pace lap and came back to the start, it was at least 30-seconds before the reds lights [went out]. It started creeping forward. And, my clutch was all the way in and I was pushing it through the floor as far as I could. I just couldn’t get it to not creep. So, I hit the brakes and it was holding. I was trying to hit the brake and the accelerator to keep the revs going. And, finally it just stalled out. It heated up the clutch to the point to where it just stalled the motor. I am just dead lucky it started and I didn’t fry the clutch. I was so thankful no one hit me at the start.

“The car was unbelievable,” Pilgrim added. “The handling was unreal. I could get that thing in the corner and get power down so much earlier than everybody else.”

Five-time series Champion Galati put on an impressive driving display of his own as he rocketed his No. 2 Audi Certified Pre-Owned/Champion Audi RS 6 from his seventh starting position to first on the first lap. As a result, Galati won the Remus Power Move of the race. Galati maintained second after Angelelli went past on lap three, holding off Phil McClure and Tommy Archer.

“I had a tough qualifying [session] because we had a little problem with the brakes and the guys fixed it so I was hoping to get a good start,” Galati said of the start. “I couldn’t believe it I got a good start and I was second [moving to first by corner three]. The car was very good. I don’t think I had anything for them [Cadillac].”

In his return to the series after a 12-year hiatus, Archer finished fourth in his Dodge Viper Competition Coupe and Phil McClure, of Floris , Iowa , finished fifth his Corvette ZO6.

Defending series champion Randy Pobst shot off the line and led into turn one from his second starting position, however, a broken power steering belt broke essentially ended his day by the time he was in turn three. Pobst finished 26th.

This was Cadillac’s first professional race win since 1949.

Rookie Mike McCann won the Sunoco Hard Charger of the Race award for advancing 21 positions throughout the race.

Angelelli takes the lead in the SPEED GT Drivers’ Championship with 34 points, followed by Pilgrim (27 points), Galati (26), Archer (24) and McClure (22).

Cadillac leads the SPEED GT Manufacturers Championship Presented by RACER Magazine with nine points, followed by Audi (five), Dodge (three) and Chevrolet (two).

The SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT Championship next visits Lime Rock Park May 29-31, headlining the Mohegan Sun Presents the Lime Rock Grand Prix.

Today’s race will initially air at 1:00 p.m. ET, March 21 on SPEED Channel

[Sinister Angel]

Originally Posted by gothicaleigh

There are turns where the drivers were using no throttle whatsoever..

Uhh, that's a part of racing. You go full throttle through alot of turns, you go flying off the track. A CTS doesn't possess the downforce of an F1 car. As a result, they have to ease up on the lateral G's. As for not punching it comming out of the turns, I don't know the details on that. I know at the 12 hours race, alot of the class leaders just kept a consistant pace instead of going balls to the wall so they wouldn't mess up and really lose it, so that might have been happening there.

[gothicaleigh]

Originally Posted by Sinister Angel

Uhh, that's a part of racing. You go full throttle through alot of turns, you go flying off the track. A CTS doesn't possess the downforce of an F1 car. As a result, they have to ease up on the lateral G's. As for not punching it comming out of the turns, I don't know the details on that.

Ah, I didn't say that they should be going full throttle through the turns. What was happening was that they were letting up on approach and coasting through the whole turn before accelerating again (anyone who has it TiVo'd can go back and hear it on the shots from the V's camera).

Normally you slow upon approach and pull hard coming out of the apex. The V's were coasting through them. A professional driver doing a by-the-book racing line through a corner should be accelerating by the time he reaches the corner.

They were playing with the other cars. These cars can do a lap on that track in 2:09. Pilgrim was running 2:10 to 2:11 in traffic on his mad dash back to the front of the pack. You actually believe that Angelelli, who has been making record runs with the car all week at Sebring, was really pushing it doing 2:13? No, he squeezed out enough to keep that Audi behind him and nothing more. Maybe it was respect for the other drivers that held him back, but we definately didn't see the full potential of the V's at Sebring.

Originally Posted by SinisterAngel

I know at the 12 hours race, alot of the class leaders just kept a consistant pace instead of going balls to the wall so they wouldn't mess up and really lose it, so that might have been happening there.

At the 12 and 24 hour LeMans races, car management is much more emphasized (for obvious reasons) than in the 20 lap race that the V was participating in. True, you still need to know the car's limits and endurance, but it isn't as critical as when you are in a 12 hour run...