Rum Bum Racing Once Again Bookends Season with Wins

Rum Bum Racing Once Again Bookends Season with Wins

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LEXINGTON, Ohio, 17 September – Ending the season as they began –in Victory Lane – Rum Bum Racing notched their third win of the season in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge EMCO Gears Classic presented by Key Bank.

Drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi battled through a hectic race, punctuated by no less than seven caution periods accounting for just less than half of the two-hour and 30 minute race. Plumb captured the victory only two minutes and 45 seconds from the checkered flag to once again win the final race of the season. Lap after lap of pressure on the No.61 Mustang from Plumb finally yielded P1 on the day and moved the team to second in the year-end championship standings.

“It couldn’t have gone any better; the car was perfect. That was the hardest I’ve driven for this long in quite a while. It was a nail bitter all the way to the end. There are so many good drivers and cars here that it could have been anybody’s race at any time,” said Plumb triumphantly from Victory Lane.

Longhi started the race from fourth on the grid. From the off, the race’s rhythm was established with the first caution period coming at the end of lap one. When racing resumed Longhi had some chances to gain position, but thought better of it knowing that patience would be a virtue in this contest.

“The car was great on cold tires. So, early in the race, I knew we would be in good shape. I had several chances to make up positions early on, but knowing that this would be a race of cautions, there made little sense to use the car up too early,” said Longhi after handing the car over to Plumb just beyond the races first 30-minute mark.

Plumb, fueled and with fresh tires made the most green flag running to steadily make ground on the front runners.

With an hour and 20 minutes to go, Plumb used the fourth caution period to pit from second place for set of new Continental Tires. Because the team’s pit was at the end of pit lane, a slight bottle neck ensued when the pit lane opened, dropping the No. 13 Rum Bum BMW M3 down to 11th place. A series of bold passes seized upon during the limited opportunities moved Plumb into winning contention.

“Traffic was unbelievable. So I had to make a lot of passes that normally might not work. I knew we had to do everything in our power to win,” added Plumb.

Both Plumb and Longhi were quick to credit the Rum Bum Racing crew and the support of Lou Bacardi. The final race weekend of the year did not begin with a confidence inspiring performances during the first practices. Yet, the team’s ‘never surrender’ attitude kept them chipping away at improving the performance of the Rum Bum machine until it showed its true winning potential.

“This result is better than what we expected given how we started the weekend, but perfect execution by the team and (crew chief) Joe Varde made it all happen. Matt drove flat out the whole race. There couldn’t be a better way to end the season,” added Longhi.

In the final Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge point standings, Rum Bum Racing finished the team competition in second place overall just 14 points adrift of the title winners. Thanks in part to Rum Bum Racing’s three wins, two podiums and three additional Top-10 finishes, BMW sealed the manufacturer’s championship for the second consecutive year.

The EMCO Gears Classic from the Mid-Ohio airs on SPEED, September 25 at 1:00 PM eastern.

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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

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