ClassCastException when comparing elements in custom ArrayOrderedList using Comparator

I am implementing an ordered list that automatically inserts elements in the correct sorted position using a Comparator. The list is built from scratch (not using java.util.ArrayList) and uses an internal raw array.

Here is the base list implementation:

public class ArrayList<T> implements ListADT<T> {
    protected T[] array;
    protected int count;
    private static final int DEFAULT_CAPACITY = 10;

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public ArrayList() {
        array = (T[]) (new Object[DEFAULT_CAPACITY]); // internal storage
        count = 0;
    }

    protected void expandCapacity() {
        array = java.util.Arrays.copyOf(array, array.length * 2);
    }
}

And here is the ordered version:

public class ArrayOrderedList<T> extends ArrayList<T> implements OrderedListADT<T> {

    private Comparator<T> comparator;

    public ArrayOrderedList(Comparator<T> comparator) {
        this.comparator = comparator;
    }

    @Override
    public void add(T element) {
        if (count == array.length)
            expandCapacity();

        int i = 0;

        // The error occurs here:
        while (i < count && comparator.compare(element, array[i]) > 0) {
            i++;
        }

        for (int j = count; j > i; j--) {
            array[j] = array[j - 1];
        }

        array[i] = element;
        count++;
    }
}

public interface OrderedListADT<T> extends ListADT<T> {

public void add(T element);

}

public interface ListADT<T>  extends Iterable<T>{

    public T removeFirst();

    public T removeLast();

    public T remove( T Object);
    public T first();

    public T last();

    public boolean contains(T target);

    public boolean isEmpty();

    public int size();

    public Iterator<T> iterator();

    public String toString();


}

Demo code:

public class ArrayOrderedListDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ArrayOrderedList<Integer> array1 = new ArrayOrderedList<>(Comparator.naturalOrder());
        array1.add(2);
        array1.add(5);
        array1.add(4);
        array1.add(1);
    }
}

Expected behavior

I expect the elements to be inserted in sorted ascending order, for example:

[1, 2, 4, 5]

Actual Runtime Error

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ClassCastException:
class [Ljava.lang.Object; cannot be cast to class [Ljava.lang.Comparable;
([Ljava.lang.Object; and [Ljava.lang.Comparable; are in module java.base of loader 'bootstrap')
    at OrderedList.ArrayOrderedList.add(ArrayOrderedList.java:14)
    at OrderedList.ArrayOrderedListDemo.main(ArrayOrderedListDemo.java:10)

What I understand so far

This happens because the internal array is actually an Object[] but the comparison operation indirectly expects the stored elements to be in a Comparable[] (even though I am using a Comparator).

Constraints

This is an academic exercise where:

The list must be implemented from scratch.

I cannot use java.util.ArrayList.

I cannot use reflection or Array.newInstance(...).

I must store elements in a generic array like this:

array = (T[]) new Object[n];

My Question

How can I safely compare elements using a Comparator when they are stored in an Object[], without converting the internal array into a Comparable[], and without using reflection?