Despite missing the final day of the recent three-day test at
Daytona, Milka Duno and her SAMAX teammates are pleased with the progress they made before mechanical problems curtailed their running.
Duno, Patrick Carpentier, Ryan Dalziel and Darren Manning completed their preparations for the upcoming Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona at the 3.56-mile road course last week and although they only participated in six of the eight sessions, the #11 CITGO Riley-Pontiac was pleasingly getting quicker with each session.
The test culminated with Carpentier setting second fastest time in the only nighttime session of the test, something that could prove critical when the race itself begins on January 27th.
"It was a very solid test for us and I'm very pleased with our progress,” said the Venezuelan born Duno. “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."
"I really enjoyed this test,” added Carpentier. “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.
“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."
"It was more of a test with the amount of cars on the track,” continued Manning. “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.
![Milka Duno/Dario Franchitti/Marino Franchitti/Kevin McGarrity - CITGO/SAMAX Riley-Pontiac [pic credit: Richard Prince/GM Racing]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/191875.jpg)
