DUNO AND WALLACE HELP PONTIAC TO MANUFACTURER'S WIN
Duno
Takes Checkered to Complete a Great 1st Season for CITGO
Racing
October 31, 2004 - Having seen any chance of improving on 3rd and 5th
overall in the driver's championship slip away after a fist lap collision,
CITGO Racing's Milka Duno and Andy Wallace at least managed to help Pontiac
to win the 2004 Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype Engine
Manufacturers Championship at the season-finale today at California
Speedway.
In lap one, just as the bunched-up field left the oval and entered the
infield the #7 Daytona Prototype spun and made contact with multiple cars
bringing out the first caution and causing Milka to maneuver off the asphalt
and onto the grass in order to avoid contact - which she did. The #2 Pontiac
Crawford Daytona Prototype lost grip on the grass causing Milka to spin and
struggling for traction as she tried to rejoin. Milka managed to get going
once again; with the field now under yellow as the #9 Daytona Prototype was
still blocking the circuit. Anticipating very few yellows, the team elected
to change drivers under the yellow to see what Andy could do and hope for
problems with other cars ahead. Milka was asked to stay on standby in the
pits, ready to rejoin at a moment's notice.
Andy charged hard as he's done all season and brought the car up to as high
as 5th overall and with ten laps remaining offered the honor of race-finish
to his teammate. Milka got in the car, rejoining in ninth position, a place
she held strongly until the checkered flag on the 89th lap.
"I was very upset over the incident right at the start of the race right at
the first turn onto the infield course," said Milka. "Without even one lap
completed a Daytona Prototype up ahead of me spun which caused almost the
whole Daytona Prototype field to spin or slow to avoid contact - including
me. This brought out the first caution, and while I had avoided any contact
whatsoever and was able to bring the car in with no damage team strategy
must be adhered too. While I was very upset and really frustrated and did
not want to leave the race after one lap I understood that it would be the
best for our team."
"Andy took the car out and really advanced our position and I was pleased to
get back in the car to run through to the finish. It's been an incredible
season for me and I've learned so much with Andy and the Howard-Boss
Motorsports crew - they have been awesome all year. Many thanks as well to
my sponsor CITGO. I was so happy that many people from CITGO came to our
last race to show their support and I believe we delivered a very good
result this year for CITGO Racing's first year in the Rolex Sports Car
Series," added Milka.
"Our last race of the year ended up to be a real challenge. But just as they
have all season the team rose to the challenge and we were able to deliver a
top-ten result," said Andy. "We did a lot of really good work with the crew
this year - work that paid off - and many, many thanks to them and also for
the incredible support of CITGO."
The 2004 Rolex Sports Car Series race here in Fontana ended a very
successful season for the CITGO Racing Howard-Boss Motorsports team. In
addition to engine partner Pontiac's Championship win, a 2nd place finish
for Chassis partner, Crawford, was earned in the Daytona Prototype Chassis
Manufacturers Standings, a 3rd place finish for their team, Howard-Boss
Motorsports, in the Daytona Prototype Team Point Standings. Andy finished
the season 3rd in the Daytona Prototype Driver Point Standings and Milka
finished 5th.
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 .
Milka is currently featured in Pontiac's largest ever Spanish language
advertising campaign launching an all-new sports sedan - the Pontiac G6.
Pontiac is a division of General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and markets
the Bonneville, GTO, Grand Prix, Grand Am, G6, Vibe and Sunfire. In 2003,
Pontiac sold more than 475,000 vehicles, ranking third among GM divisions in
total sales. 2004/2005 will see Pontiac launch an exciting new range of
vehicles including the Montana SV6, G6 coupe, G6 convertible and the
Solstice roadster. More information on Pontiac and its products can be found
at www.pontiac.com . Information in Spanish
can be found atwww.pontiac.com/sp .
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