DUNO AND CITGO RACING TEST STRONG AT DAYTONA FOR 2007
ROLEX 24
CHALLENGE
#11
CITGO Pontiac Riley 2nd Quickest Friday
Night
January 11, 2007, Los Angeles, CA...CITGO Racing driver Milka Duno
and her
co-drivers for the 2007 Rolex 24 At Daytona have completed their third
and
final test for this month's 24 hour race at Daytona. Patrick Carpentier,
Darren Manning and Ryan Dalziel will join Duno for the 45th running
of the
Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona International Speedway this January
27 & 28,
2007.
The Daytona test was considered a huge success due to the consistent
ability
of the drivers and crew to improve the lap times in each and every
practice
session. In fact, on last Friday's final session of the day Carpentier,
in
the #11 CITGO Pontiac Riley, scored the 2nd fastest in the session.
Out of a total of eight practice sessions, spread over three days,
the CITGO
Racing drivers and crew completed six full sessions - ending with the
last
session on Friday night. The team did not participate in the remaining
two
on-track sessions on Saturday due to a mechanical failure, electing
instead
to continue working on other improvements on the car in the team's
garage.
Milka Duno
"It was a very solid test for us and I'm very pleased with our progress.
Although we lost the last two sessions we had already met our objectives
and
we're right where we wanted to be. We increased our performance and
the
car's with each and every session and we continued to come together
really
very well as a team."
Patrick Carpentier
"I really enjoyed this test. It was good to work with all the other
drivers.
They worked on the car and really improved it, so I was really pleased
when
I got back in for the night session. It was fast and the rear stayed
under
me the whole time, which is important for the race. The Hasselgren-Pontiac
engine is strong and we ran one for more than hours. It was also great
to be
with all the guys I used to race with, like Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott
Dixon,
Dan Wheldon, Scott Pruett and Paul Tracy - just to name a few."
Darren Manning
"It was more of a test with the amount of cars on the track. It was
a little
bit frustrating not being able to get so many fast laps in, but having
said
that, we were still very fast running in traffic - which is what we
concentrated on because that's what the race will be like. So we're
pretty
happy with where we stand but know we have some improvements to come.
Not
only are we going to be fast, I think we're going to be strong for
the whole
of the race - having four strong drivers. Everybody was comfortable
in the
car and we made it better over the three days. We did a lot of race
set up
work rather than go-fast set up work - should be very good!"
Ryan Dalziel
"I'm really looking forward to the '24hr'. We had a very good test
and we
proved that our CITGO car is very fast. I'm also looking forward to
having a
successful race with Milka, Darren and Patrick. It's such a great racing
event and I love the atmosphere of the entire 24-hours."
CITGO, based in Houston, Texas, is a refiner, transporter and marketer
of
transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals, refined waxes, asphalt
and
other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc.,
an
indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela,
S.A., the
national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For more
information on CITGO visit www.citgo.com.
For the past three years, well-known Latina racecar driver Milka Duno
has
been featured in Pontiac's advertising campaigns. Pontiac is a division
of
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and markets the G6 sedan, coupe
and
retractable hardtop convertible; Grand Prix; Solstice roadster; Vibe
and
Torrent. In 2005, Pontiac sold more than 437,000 vehicles, ranking
third
among GM divisions in total sales. For the 2007 model year, Pontiac
will be
launching the turbocharged Solstice GXP. Pontiac also launched the
entry-level G5 coupe in the Fall 2006. More information on Pontiac
and its
products can be found at www.pontiac.com.
Information in Spanish can be
found at www.pontiac.com/sp.
For additional information on Milka please visit www.milkaduno.com.
For more
information on the Rolex Sports Car Series please log on to
www.grandamerican.com.
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