Duno clears the first IndyCar hurdle

Milka Duno passed her IndyCar Series rookie test on Thursday afternoon under the watch of IndyCar Series technical director, Kevin 'Rocket' Blanch. The test was originally scheduled for Wednesday with Al Unser, Sr., the scheduled overseer, but rain prevented Duno from running, and Unser had to leave to attend to other matters.

Thursday's weather was only marginally better, with temperatures in the 50's (F) and a light mist falling in the morning. Once the team was able to get on to the track, Duno was able to work through her scheduled program, though no times or speeds were released.

"We didn't have all the track time that we were suppose to leading up to this because of the weather conditions,” said Duno, a veteran of Daytona Prototype sports cars. “My team did a great job getting the car prepared. I'm learning so much from all the guys that have experience in Indy car racing, especially my engineer, Steve Challis, and my driver coach, Pancho Carter. I was trying to do the best I could and follow the grooves. But this is just the first step. Like everyone else, you start with your first race. Every driver has to get experience, and it starts with the first race. The first practice, the first qualifying, the first race."

Blanch was complimentary of Duno's consistency and ability to understand her car.

"She understands the car," Blanch said. "She can feel the car with the seat. Her seat tells her what the car is doing. She said that several times today. I asked her several questions and she gave me the answer that I felt other drivers with more experience would have given me. The next step in getting her in the car with traffic and seeing what she can do. In two laps, she's up to the same speed that she was right before she went into the pits. That's the main key – to be able to go back out there and run the same speed each time. That's one of things we look for. Also, her line was more consistent."

As always merely driving the car (even at over 200miles per hour) will be the easy part. Duno must now prove she can actually race with other competitors, many of which have privately expressed concern over her relative lack of high speed experience.

"She's to the point now where she needs to run with other cars and see where she stacks up. We'll be watching her this weekend, especially in traffic, just as we would with any other driver."

ORS / CAPSIS International