CITGO RACING'S SONOMA PREVIEW
Patrick Carpentier
with Milka Duno and CITGO Racing for Northern
California Event
August 21, 2006, Los Angeles, CA...Milka Duno and CITGO Racing welcome
open
wheel standout Patrick Carpentier to their effort for the penultimate
race
of the 2006 Rolex Sports Car Championship at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma,
CA.
this August 24-26. The 2-hour, 45-minute race will be on Saturday,
August 26
starting at 3:00pm PDT.
This will be Duno's first partnering with Carpentier - but not Carpentier's
first time behind the wheel of the Daytona Prototype. He raced with
Cheever
Racing in the #39 Daytona Prototype at the 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona
- where
in his first-ever sports car endurance race - he led for a total of
55 laps.
A terminal mechanical failure ended the effort with only two hours
remaining
- resulting in an 11th place-in-class finish.
Carpentier won the Player's/Toyota Atlantic Championship in 1996 with
eight
poles and a record nine wins in twelve starts. He then headed straight
to
Championship Auto Racing Teams in 1997 and earned "Rookie of the Year"
honors. From 1998 to 2002 he earned three wins, three poles, twelve
podiums
and in 2002 finished third in the championship and was presented with
the
Greg Moore Legacy Award. In 2003 and 2004 Carpentier, now in the Champ
Car
World Series, scored two wins, two poles, nine podiums and finished
the 2003
season third in the championship and the 2004 season fifth in the
championship. In 2005, Carpentier finished tenth in the Indy Racing
League
Championship.
Duno's previous experience at Sonoma includes an LMP 675 class win
in the
American Le Mans Series in 2000 in the Reynard 01Q/Judd Le Mans Prototype.
Milka Duno
"I'm a big fan of Patrick's and have followed his achievements since
he
earned the Toyota Atlantic Championship. It will be great to have him
with
us for this race and we'll do everything we can to make him feel welcome.
This will be the first race for the Daytona Prototypes at Sonoma and
that
means we'll have no background data for the car on this track. It will
increase our challenge - but it will be the same for everyone else.
I've
raced here before, so that will be helpful. It will be interesting
to hit
the circuit in the #11 CITGO Pontiac Riley and see how it feels with
this
car.
We've been very competitive all season and deserve to be on the podium.
I've
been on the podium at Sonoma and it's a great feeling. Hopefully we
can earn
one this time out!"
Patrick Carpentier
"I am extremely delighted to start racing again. It was good to take
a few
months off and spend some time with my kids on the ranch, but now it
is time
to go back to racing. This is a track I enjoyed last year with the
IRL and
I'm looking forward to going back to it. I want to thank the team and
its
affiliated sponsors for giving me this opportunity."
The three-day race event will have the team practicing on Thursday
afternoon, practicing and qualifying on Friday, and racing on Saturday
afternoon at 3pm PDT - with live timing and scoring, plus audio in
English
and Spanish, available at www.grandamerican.com.
The race will be broadcast
tape-delayed the next day on Sunday, August 27 at 3pm EDT on the SPEED
Channel.
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 third consecutive year, well-known Latina racecar driver Milka
Duno
will be 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 and 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.
Milka is also the Latin American spokesperson for Sony's Xplod car
audio
brand. Sony is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications,
and
information technology products for the consumer and professional markets.
Its music, motion picture, television, computer entertainment, and
online
businesses make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies
in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately
$64
billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006. You may visit the
Sony
Corporation website at http://www.sony.net/.
Sony Latin America has a
regional office in Miami, Florida and subsidiaries in numerous countries,
including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama,
Peru,
Puerto Rico and
Venezuela. You may visit the Sony Latin America website at
http://www.sony-latin.com/index_.crp.
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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