Five-time Daytona 200 winner Miguel Duhamel will be looking to take a record sixth win in the classic road race when he lines up on the grid March 6 under the lights at Daytona International Speedway, and he will do so on a Team Suzuki Blackfoot Picotte Racing GSX-R600. Duhamel said the deal with the Pascal Picotte-owned team came after a long, exhausting search for a full-time ride for the 2009 season. “All winter long Alan [Labrosse, Duhamel’s long-time manager] and I have been working really hard trying to get a deal,” Duhamel told Roadracingworld.com February 11. “Alan came out here, and we toured the West Coast. We saw everybody here who has a shop and is involved in racing. We let everybody know that we were ready and willing to go race. It’s never stopped for the last four months. “That led to here. Alan talked to Pascal. He was interested. Then he [Alan] said, ‘Hey Miguel, here’s the deal. We’ve got something here with Pascal,’ and would I be interested. And I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve been trying to get a ride. Yeah, of course.’ “Knowing Pascal, knowing him very well, I know that he knows racing. He’s a winner on the track, and I know that leads to a winner off the track. I know his team and everything has been going really well. So I was like, why not? Let’s do this. It definitely has a good and a fun vibe to it. “I really want to try [to win a sixth Daytona 200] this year because I think it’s a whole new ballgame. It’s going to be totally different with the rules, totally different with the bikes. There’s a lot of uncertainty with all of the teams. In the past, we’ve seen teams have problems at Daytona. Hopefully, this year it won’t be us and we’ll be able to give it a smooth ride and give it a good shot at bringing home number six. It would be a great Cinderella story.” Asked about the Daytona 200 deal turning into a season-long ride with Picotte’s team or opening doors elsewhere, Duhamel said, “There’s no plans for doing anything else. Right now it’s just Daytona. We’re just focusing on that. For sure we’re still open to do more races or put a season together. You never know what’s going to happen. Obviously, the whole point of me putting my hat into the ring is to hopefully see what else we can do, but right now we’re focusing on the 200.”