Milka Duno Eyes Grand-Am, Champ Car Rides in '06

Speedtv.com

Venezuelan driver Milka Duno expects to announce her 2006 plans soon, ideally in a conjoined program including Grand American Rolex Series and Champ Car outings.Duno, 33, will not be back behind the wheel of one of Howard-Boss Motorsports’ Pontiac Crawfords in ‘06.

She is currently evaluating other proposals from Grand Am teams for a full-time ride next season.“We will carry on racing Daytona Prototypes in Grand Am - testing at Daytona begins on the first week of January, so we intend to announce the name of the team we’ll be racing with in the coming days.

“After two seasons at Howard-Boss, we felt it was time for a change: we clinched great results and [three] victories together [in partnership with Andy Wallace] but the performance in the second half of this season wasn’t what we expected so it was time to go our separate ways.”

Duno, who carries a strong personal sponsorship from Citgo, tested an HVM Champ Car last September and intends to make her racing debut in the 750-hp open-wheel machines later in ‘06.“We also intend to have a significant amount of Champ Car testing in view of making out race debut before the end of next season.”

Duno's previous competitive open-wheel experience includes three seasons of Formula Nissan in Europe in 2001, 2002 and 2003 - where she became the first woman in history to both score points and pilot the fastest car in this prestigious series. Duno also competed in the Barber Dodge Pro Series in 2000 and the Barber Dodge 2000 Series in 1999.