It wasn't only the month gap since Milka Duno announced she and SAMAX Motorsport would enter the IndyCar Series that had the veteran sports car racer on edge. Travel problems and rain at Kansas Speedway on April 25 postponed her much-anticipated rookie test. source: indycar.com / Dave Lewandowski Finally, the team found a window in the overcast skies and Duno passed the speed-phase test for her Indy Racing League license. IndyCar Series technical director Kevin Blanch observed the activity on the tri-oval banked in the corners at 15 degrees. She will be allowed to participate in on-track activity during the Kansas Lottery Indy 300 race weekend. Duno and 20 other competitors will participate in the first (split) practice session beginning at 10 a.m. (EDT) April 28 (watch all practices and qualifying on indycar.com). "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. "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." Duno would join Andretti Green Racing's Danica Patrick and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Sarah Fisher in the lineup for the sixth IndyCar Series race on the 1.5-mile tri-oval - a first in major open-wheel history. "I'm happy. I guess now I am Indy," Duno said. "We had a good test. We didn't have all the track time that we were suppose to leading up to this because of the weather conditions. 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."
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