Milka Duno notched up a fighting fourth-place finish in this weekend's prestigious Grand Prix of Miami – the final Grand-Am appearance for the Venezuelan star before she jumps across to single-seaters.
Driving the #11 CITGO Racing Pontiac Riley alongside former Champ Car ace Patrick Carpentier, Duno took to the wheel for the start of the race. She made her way up to ninth place from 16th on the grid despite a brief off-track excursion, before handing over to her Canadian team-mate who dragged the car up to fourth at the chequered flag – a tantalising 0.297 seconds short of a rostrum finish.
Florida-based Duno had announced in the build-up to the weekend that – in tandem with CITGO Racing and SAMAX Motorsport – she would be embarking upon a ten-race campaign in the 2007 Indy Racing League, including the celebrated Indy 500.
“It was a great finish,” she enthused afterwards. “Patrick was awesome as he fought hard for position and it was outstanding that we finished fourth. Knowing this would be my last scheduled sportscar race in 2007 and at my home track on the weekend of our big announcement made it 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 too. 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.”
Carpentier was equally pleased at having coaxed such a strong finish out of a lowly starting position, particularly after joining the track down in 18th place when he took over from Duno.
![Milka Duno [Pic: Emerito Pujol]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/192805.jpg)
