MILKA DUNO FINISHES WELL IN DEBUT INDYCAR RACE
Duno Advances Seven Positions, Finishes Fourteenth in First IndyCar Race

CITGO Racing's Milka Duno, who just passed her  official "Rookie Test" for the 2007 IndyCar Series just this past Thursday, started her debut race at the back of the pack and advanced seven positions through the field to finish 14th in today's Kansas Lottery Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway.

In her first race of her ten-race rookie season and in only her fourth day behind the wheel of her #23 CITGO Racing Dallara Honda, Duno worked through some serious understeer at the start of the 200-lap race to ultimately lap the circuit at speeds in the 213mph range and achieve average lap times as high as 209mph.

During the first caution of the five-caution race, the crew added some front wing which helped correct the understeer - but not totally. During the second caution they added some more. By the third caution - and with a final adjustment to the wing - the team had the problem completely corrected and Duno was then able to power forward much more quickly.

"The car was handling crazy with so much understeer right from the very start of the race, said Duno. "It was very hard to drive and I just wanted
to stay safe and be able to get the car to the pits for the first caution. The crew went right to work and added some front wing and it helped a little - but we still needed more. More was added on the second yellow flag pit stop and it improved again and with one last adjustment on our third stop it finally felt really good. My lap times really improved from that moment forward and I felt then that I had a pretty good car. The charts will show just how dramatic a change it made and my lap speeds and average laps speeds were really getting better and better - and not too far off the mark from the top contenders."

"For a new team and a new driver I think this shows that our communication is really good and I was able to relay how the car was behaving and the team was able to translate that to into a solution that worked," added Duno. "This is very important and a very good sign for us. We're working very well together as a team and I'm sure it will only get better from here on. Today's race has shown us that we have an ability to quickly identify a problem, create a solution - and then fix it. We've now got our first race behind us with a respectful finish so alot of that "first race" pressure has been reduced. The team has worked very, very hard during a very concentrated period of time with a lot of pressure and scrutiny - and as a result we have passed our rookie test, first set of practices, first qualifying and first race. Thanks to the entire team for an outstanding job well done - and for making our "firsts" successful for CITGO Racing."

"Milka did a really good job. We gave her a car that had a considerable amount of understeer and she did a great job of just getting the car to the first pit stop safely, said team owner Peter Baron. "We made a little over a degree of wing change which helped her a little bit and brought up her speed a little bit and then on the next pit stop we added another degree and a half of front wing to increase the front downforce. After that the car started working well and her confidence in the car came in and the car started working well in traffic. Going into the race was really the first time we had the car in any real amount of traffic. Group practice sessions have additional cars in them - but still fall short of actual race traffic conditions. You can be around and get around some cars - but a whole group of cars in the heat we had today - it was our very first opportunity to do that. The heat and the air from a group of cars really affects the downforce pressure on the car and took a lot of our front grip away. Milka did a great job of quickly identifying and relaying the problem and the crew did a good job correcting it. Once the problem was solved Milka really got into it and turned some great laps for the rest of the race."

By the team's next race at Indy, the #23 CITGO Racing Dallara Honda will receive some aerodynamic updates that had not arrived in time for the Kansas race. These updates will reduce drag - which should serve to increase the car's top speed and average lap times.

CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, marketer and transporter of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals, refined waxes, asphalt and
other industrial products. The company has been a major sponsor of American racing for 21 years in such series as NASCAR, Grand-Am Racing and now the IndyCar Series. CITGO 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 additional information on Milka please visit www.milkaduno.com. For more information on the IndyCar Series please log on to www.indycar.com.