Duno, Lammers Sixth in Comp USA 200 at The Glen
#2
CITGO Racing Team earns fifth top-ten of season
Watkins Glen, NY (August 13, 2005) . Milka Duno and Jan Lammers co-piloted
the #2 CITGO Pontiac Crawford to a 6th-place finish in the Comp USA 200 at
The Glen at Watkins Glen International on Friday evening. The strong
performance marked the fifth top-ten finish for the #2 CITGO Racing Team in
the Grand American Rolex Series this season.
After two practice sessions on Friday, Milka Duno was selected to qualify
the #2 CITGO Pontiac Crawford. She responded with a fast lap of 1:11.719 /
122.980 mph to earn the 19th starting position in the 45-car starting field
for the 200-mile event. The qualifying session was stopped twice due to
black flag incidents. As a result of these conditions Milka was only able to
complete two clean laps - which affected her qualifying position.
The 2.45-mile Watkins Glen road course is a very tight track with very few
opportunities to pass. Duno drove a strategic race and maintained her
position in the running order until she came to the pits under caution on
lap twenty for tires, fuel, and a driver change.
Jan Lammers took over the controls of the #2 CITGO Pontiac Crawford and
restarted in the 17th position on lap 24. The veteran road racer worked his
way through race traffic and moved up to the 13th position by lap 38 when he
made a pit stop under caution for tires and fuel. After restarting in 11th
on lap 49, Lammers quickly moved into the top ten four laps later.
Within ten laps, Lammers moved to eighth. Caution waved again on lap 66, and
the CITGO Team chose to remain on course with the laps and two-hour time
limit winding down. Lammers restarted in the sixth position on lap 69 and
would remain in that position when the checkered flag waved on lap 75.
The 6th-place effort was the second consecutive Rolex Series race that Duno
and Lammers posted a top-ten finish. The talented duo finished fifth in the
Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona on June 30th. Duno and Lammers teamed with
Andy Wallace to win the win the 6 Heures du Circuit Mont-Tremblant in May
and the Wallace / Duno duo earned a fourth at California Speedway in April.
"It was a very competitive race for us tonight, and a really close race
right from the start," Duno commented. "We came away with a 6th-place finish
and were only 3.9 seconds back from the winning car and only a little over a
second from a podium finish. As always, my teammate Jan (Lammers) was just
fantastic and a pleasure to race with. The team's performance was
outstanding as well."
The CITGO Racing Team did an outstanding job preparing our Pontiac Crawford
for this race," Lammers added. "Watkins Glen is a very tough track to pass
on, but our race strategy, the work by our crew, and the good first stint by
Milka (Duno) enabled us to post a good finish. All in all, it was a good day
for the CITGO Racing Team."
The next race for the Rolex Sports Car Series is the EMCO Gears Classic at
the Mid-Ohio Road Racing Course on Saturday, August 27th. Practice and
qualifying will be held on Friday, August 26th. The Speed Channel will
provide tape-delayed coverage of the race beginning at noon on Sunday,
August 28th.
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. Milka was first featured in Pontiac's ads last fall to launch
of
the all-new Pontiac G6 sports sedan and continues with current ads to
introduce the G6 coupe and Solstice roadster. Pontiac is a division of
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and markets the G6 sedan and coupe,
GTO, Grand Prix, Solstice, Torrent, Vibe and Montana SV6. Pontiac sold more
than 474,000 vehicles in 2004, ranking third among GM divisions in total
sales. In early 2006, Pontiac will introduce the G6 retractable hardtop
convertible. More information on Pontiac and its products can be found on
the division's website at www.pontiac.com and
in Spanish at www.pontiac.com/espanol .
For additional information on Milka and Andy please visit www.milkaduno.com or www.andywallace.com ,
respectively. For more information on the Rolex
Sports Car Series log on to www.grandamerican.com .
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