MILKA DUNO FINISHES 4TH IN HER LAST SPORTSCAR RACE
BEFORE STARTING INDY RACING LEAGUE
Duno Jumps to IndyCar While 3rd in Rolex Series Driver Points
MIAMI, Fla. (March 24, 2007) - Milka Duno and her teammate Patrick
Carpentier scored a 4th place finish in today's Rolex Series Grand
Prix of
Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway. With the strong finish both Duno
and
Carpentier are tied for 3rd in the official Driver Point Standings
for the
Series.
Milka started the race in the #11 CITGO Racing Pontiac Riley in 16th
and
reached as high as 9th when she pitted to hand over the controls to
Patrick.
Closing the gap lap per lap Patrick steadily moved up until reaching
4th -
only one position away from a coveted podium position. From lap 69
on he
fought hard and ended the race only a heart-breaking 0.297 seconds
behind
the 3rd place finisher.
Milka Duno
"It was a great finish - Patrick was awesome as he fought hard for
position
and it was outstanding that we finished 4th. Knowing this would be
my last
scheduled sportscar race in 2007 and at my home track on the weekend
of our
big announcement - it was very special to me, the team and all our
friends
and supporters from CITGO. The team worked so incredibly hard as always
-
and as this track is their home track as well - it was great to have
all
their family and friends here also. I can't imagine a more perfect
scenario
to begin the new challenges while at the same time having such a great
result in our Rolex race.
Patrick Carpentier
"That was a great race and it was a lot of fun," said Carpentier. "The
car
was running well for most of the race, except at the end when it started
to
overheat a little bit. I think there must have been some debris in
the
radiators and that caused the problem. The engine lost a bit of power
then,
but Scott (Pruett) made no mistake at the end even when I was pressuring
him. Overall, the SAMAX crew came up with a great fuel strategy and
their
effort during the pit stops was flawless. Fourth place was great today
as we
had to charge the field throughout the race, and I think it pleased
the
CITGO VIPs who enjoyed the team's efforts."
This is Milka's last scheduled 2007 Rolex Series race as she will now
enter
her rookie season in the Indy Racing League. Milka announced at a packed
press conference at the track on Friday that she and CITGO Racing and
SAMAX
Motorsport will enter a ten-race schedule in the 2007 Indy Racing League
-
which will include the 2007 Indy 500. Milka will drive the #23 CITGO
Racing/SAMAX Motorsport Dallara/Honda/Firestone. She also plans to
compete
at Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Watkins Glen, Nashville, Mid Ohio, Michigan,
Kentucky and Chicago.
CITGO, based in Houston, 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 additional information on Milka please visit www.milkaduno.com.
For more
information on the IndyCar Series please log on to www.indycar.com.
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