Mosport: Team Cadillac GT race notes

Fellows Wins for Team Cadillac in Mosport
Pilgrim Finishes Fourth and Retains Points Lead

BOWMANVILLE, Ont., Sept. 3, 2005 - Ron Fellows joined Team Cadillac for the 10th round of the SCCA World Challenge with one goal: win the race. He accomplished that objective today with a .814-second victory over Lou Gigliotti's Corvette in the 26-lap SPEED GT race at the Mosport Grand Prix. It was the Canadian star's second straight SPEED GT win at Mosport with Team Cadillac.

"This is cool - two in a row!" Fellows exclaimed. "I'll take a win at my home track any day."

It was an eventful day for Team Cadillac. Max Papis moved from third to first at the start, splitting the Corvettes of polesitter Leighton Reese and Lou Gigliotti. Papis spun in the first turn, triggering a multi-car accident. Fortunately no drivers were injured in the melee.

Fellows had a clear view of the action after starting fifth on the grid.

"I got a real good jump at the start and I decided to go around the outside," Fellows explained. "The next thing I knew, there were cars sideways in front of me. I swung wide and didn't get touched. We were lucky."

Racing resumed after a 26-minute caution period to clear the track. Running second, Fellows stalked race leader Gigliotti until the 10th lap, when he passed the Corvette going into Turn 10.

"I got beat by a classic Mosport move," laughed Gigliotti, who finished second. "After that it was follow the leader. It was a good, clean race and a lot of fun."

Points leader Andy Pilgrim started 10th in his CTS-V, and that position proved to be a blessing at the start.

"First I was amazed that we even made the race after the crash on Thursday," said Pilgrim. "The team did an incredible job, rebuilding virtually the entire car. At the start, I saw everyone coming together and I was looking for a hole. I just weaved my way through it, and almost got hit. It was tough."

Pilgrim emerged from the first turn in fifth. He passed Chip Herr's Corvette at the 32-minute mark to take fourth place, which he held to the finish.

"Chip was pushing Patrick Long's Porsche hard, but he made a mistake in Turn 5B and I got around him," Pilgrim explained. "The guys behind me were coming hard. As my tires wore, I had a huge moment in Turn 2, and almost lost it. That was my signal to slow down and not try to force a move, even though I wanted to pass the Porsche and help Cadillac in the manufacturers championship."

The Team Cadillac crew repaired the damaged right-side suspension and bodywork on Papis' CTS-V and got him back on track before the caution period ended. He completed 19 laps and finished 16th.

"Some days you get everything or you get nothing - today we got both," said Papis. "Ron won the race and I got zero REWARDS weight for the next race.

"We had a great start, and I'm not sure what happened, but I found myself backwards in Turn 1," he continued. "That wasn't the end of the day for us. Team Cadillac is a very strong organization and my crew fixed the car. We achieved the second-best goal we could. We're going to go to the final race at Laguna Seca and fight for the manufacturers championship."

"What an emotion-packed weekend," said Cadillac general manager Jim Taylor. "Team Cadillac did a fantastic job. They rebuilt Andy Pilgrim's car on Thursday and then they rebuilt Max Papis' car during the race. Ron Fellows brought home a victory for Cadillac again today, and it's great for the series that the championship is going down to the final race."

Today's SPEED GT race at Mosport International Raceway will be televised on the SPEED Channel on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. EDT.

The final round of the 11-race series will be held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Oct. 16. The race will be televised on the SPEED Channel on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. ET (check local listings).

-gm racing