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Biography |
Milka Duno is a Venezuelan race car
driver born in Caracas. She began racing sports cars in
Venezuela. In 1999, she moved to the United States and
attended more advanced racing schools and she drove in the
Barber Dodge Pro Series in 2000. Later that year she made
her American Le Mans Series debut. She made her 24 Hours of
Daytona debut the next year and her 24 Hours of Le Mans
debut a year later. In 2001 and 2003 she competed in the
World Series by Nissan open-wheel series in Europe. Since
2004 she has competed full time in the Rolex Grand-Am series
driving a Pontiac-Riley Daytona Prototype. With a second
place finish in the 2007 24 Hours of Daytona, Duno became
the highest-finishing female in the history of the
prestigious race.
On December 14, 2006, car owner Larry Cahill announced that
he had signed Duno to drive for his team in the Indy Racing
League IndyCar series for 2007. However, since Cahill Racing
has not yet entered any IndyCar races for 2007, there was no
deal for Duno to sign. Consquently, on March 23, 2007, Duno
and her Grand Am Series team, SAMAX Motorsports announced
that they acquired the equipment to run a 10 race IndyCar
series schedule in 2007, including the Indianapolis 500. It
was also announced that Duno will no longer run a full
schedule in the Grand Am series, choosing to devote her
efforts toward the goal of running the full IRL schedule in
2008.
On April 26, 2007, Duno successfully passed her IRL rookie
test at Kansas Speedway. When Duno made the field for the
Kansas Lottery 300 (also held at Kansas Speedway) on April
29, 2007, it marked the first time in North American open
wheel history that three women (Duno, Danica Patrick and
Sarah Fisher) ran in the same race. Duno stayed out of
trouble after qualifying last in the 21-car field and
finished 14th.
On May 6, 2007, Duno successfully completed her rookie test
for the Indianapolis 500 race. This 91st running of the
"Indy 500" could also be the first where three women are
included in the 33-car field should Duno, Fisher and Patrick
successfully qualify sometime during the weekends of May 12
and 19, 2007. |
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