Austin, Texas (18 September 2014) – The Rum Bum Racing No. 13 Porsche will start from the second row of the grid at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) on Friday following Thursday afternoon’s 15-minute qualifying session. Hugh Plumb turned a fast lap time of 2:23.211-seconds around the challenging 3.4-mile road course to take third on the 52-car combined class grid.

Hugh Plumb will open the 2.5-hour IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race before handing the controls over to his brother and co-driver Matt Plumb who will take the car to the finish. Having placed fourth in last year’s debut race at COTA after starting third, Rum Bum Racing looks to take its first Circuit of the Americas podium with a positive outing in Friday’s race.

The No. 13 Porsche rolled off of the trailer and was immediately quick as the team posted the quickest time during the first practice held under warm and slightly wet track conditions. Rum Bum Racing then posted the fifth quickest time of the second practice which was held under hot and sticky weather conditions as the Rum Bum squad prepared for the 15-minute qualifying run.

“It’s great to be able to put the Rum Bum Porsche right up at the front,” said Hugh Plumb. “Thanks to the Bacardis and all the guys at Rum Bum for giving me a great car. And of course to my brother Matt who I expect to bring it home and put us right at the front at the end of the race. The car was good. I only had a couple of laps and it says something about the team, for me to be able to just get in the car and put it up front. So I thank them and the Bacardi family the most.Tomorrow we’ll just try to keep it clean and keep it at the front.”

With rain in the forecast for Friday’s race, the event could be an interesting one with different strategies put into play.

After some bad racing luck in the previous two events, the 2012 & 2013 GS Champions would like nothing more than to return to the podium at such an iconic circuit as the Circuit of the Americas.

The 2.5-hour race is set to go green at 12:20PM Central Time and will be streamed LIVE on imsa.com. Follow @RumBumRacing on Twitter for updates throughout the race!

The COTA event will be televised on FOX Sports 1 Sunday, September 28 at 12:00 PM ET.

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New Driver Line-ups for COTA and Road Atlanta

Orlando, Fla. (16 September 2014) – The saying is that “everything is bigger in Texas,” and this weekend, that describes the size of the ambition for Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing as the team has big plans for the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race as part of the big Lone Star Le Mans event at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

With championship titles in 2012 and 2013, Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing enters the race weekend as the defending IMSA champions. But for Rum Bum Racing fans, the 2014 season has been far from satisfying as the team has suffered a streak of foul racing fortunes so far this year.

But with a few weeks to regroup, the team is fresh and focused ahead of the visit to the spectacular Circuit of the Americas just outside of Austin, Texas. The 3.4-mile circuit, which also plays host to Formula 1, Moto GP, and World Endurance Championship events, is an audacious mix of long flat out straight-aways and a series of challenging, technical switchbacks, with a pair of big braking hairpins in the mix for good measure.

The track is one the team knows well, having qualified third and finished fourth at the circuit in 2013.

This weekend will see a new look as Rum Bum Racing driver Nick Longhi, who has been with the team since the drop of the first green flag at Daytona in 2010 and was part of every one of the team’s 15 victories either as spotter or driver, will graduate from the cockpit to the pit stand as he focuses on an engineering role for the team at the Lone Star Le Mans event.

“The win ratio that Matt (Plumb) and I have had as co-drivers is arguably the best in GS history, and that’s all because we are a team,” said Longhi. “Whatever each individual has to do at any given time, we do, with the common goal of success. The last time I made this type of shift it resulted in winning the 2010 and 2012 IMSA GT Championships, and I’m 100% focused on optimizing the total team effort that Lu (Bacardi), Matt (Plumb), Joe (Varde), and all of us at Rum Bum Racing are all about.”

Returning to the Rum Bum Racing squad for the weekend will be Hugh Plumb, who will take on the qualifying and opening-stint driving duties this weekend before turning the car over to one of the category’s winningest drivers Matt Plumb. Hugh Plumb raced for Rum Bum Racing earlier this year at Daytona International Speedway in which he and co-driver Kaz Grala finished fourth.

“We are all looking forward to the Texas weekend,” said driver and Rum Bum Racing Team Manager Matt Plumb. “It will be a different look for us, with Nick (Longhi) working on the technical director side and Hugh (Plumb) jumping in to drive for us like he did with Kaz (Grala) earlier this year. We aren’t a factor in this year’s championship unfortunately, but it gives us the chance to use all of our resources to put ourselves in the best position to win these last two races. We are fortunate to have the kind of caliber of guys that we do with Nick (Longhi), Joe (Varde, crew chief), and Hugh (Plumb), and hopefully this drives us to that point where we can be fighting for wins and championships again.”

Utilizing different driver combinations in the final two races of the 2014 season, 2009 World Challenge GT champion Brandon Davis will drive alongside Plumb in the final race of the year at Road Atlanta. Davis comes to the team with loads of sports car experience with a long list of racing accomplishments that include becoming the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American State Champion, as well as the 2005 World Challenge Rookie of the Year.

The Circuit of the Americas race weekend will open with two practice sessions on Thursday ahead of a 15-minute qualifying session which is set to begin at 6:00 PM ET. The 2.5-hour race will begin at 1:20 PM ET and will be streamed LIVE on imsa.com.

The race will be televised on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, September 28 at 12:00 PM ET.

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Alton, Va. (23 August 2014) – Rum Bum Racing had been hoping to turn the team’s luck around in Round 10 of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge championship at Virginia International Raceway on Saturday, but the team faced disappointment when the group was forced to retire the No. 13 Porsche just a few laps into the race.

Drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb and the Rum Bum Racing squad improved the No. 13 Porsche throughout the weekend’s practice sessions and looked to convert that momentum into a positive result in Saturday’s 2.5-hour race. Longhi was the quickest Porsche in Friday’s qualifying and opened the race from 13th on the grid, eager to move forward.

Longhi wasted no time maneuvering his way up as he moved into 10th on just the first lap. Unfortunately that forward progression came to a halt just three laps after an error in shifting caused irreversible damage to the Porsche powerplant, ending the day early for the defending championship squad.

“It’s such a shame because it doesn’t represent the time and effort everybody at Rum Bum Racing puts into this,” said Plumb, who serves as both driver and Team Manager for Rum Bum Racing. “We just have to keep moving forward. We can’t give up. We’re not going to throw in the towel. It’s tough. These guys don’t deserve it and our owner Luis Bacardi doesn’t deserve it. So we’ll rebound and get things back on track and figure out where we go from here.”

Rum Bum Racing next travels to Circuit of the Americas for Round 11 of the 2014 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge championship on September 19 & 20.

The VIR event will be televised on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, August 31 at 10:00 AM ET

The post Rum Bum Racing VIR Race Report appeared first on Rum Bum Racing.

Orlando, Fla. (19 August 2014) – Following two frustrating race outings in which the team showed strong pace only to be caught out by bad racing luck, Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing and drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi are ready to rebound this weekend as the 2012 & 2013 defending IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge champions travel to VIRginia International Raceway for Round 10 of the 2014 Championship.

It’s been three years since IMSA last visited the popular and classic 3.27-mile Virginia road course that features 17 turns. Rum Bum debuted at the track in 2010 with the squad’s No. 13 BMW M3 and scored the team’s second podium of the season in just its first year of competition as Plumb’s then co-driver Gian Bacardi sprayed the podium champagne with a third place finish.

This year, Rum Bum Racing brings its No. 13 Porsche machine to VIR and Plumb is joined by veteran sportscar racer Longhi. The duo has combined for 14 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge victories and would like nothing more than to add to that tally this weekend at VIR as the championship hunt continues with just three races remaining on the 2014 schedule.

Entering the weekend with 198 points in the championship following two challenging race weekends, Rum Bum Racing will look to erase the memories of a motor issue in Indianapolis and a mechanical issue at Road America that took the team from the lead with just minutes left to go in the race.

“We knew coming into this championship this year that the competition would be fierce,” said Team Manager and driver Plumb, who won at the track in 2008. “It’s been even more of an uphill battle with the car having to carry the IMSA weight, but we’ve been able to pull some rabbits out of our hats with strategy calls and just hitting our marks as a team. So we’ve stayed in the hunt all year long and we’re still fighting. We took two tough hits at Indy and Road America but this team doesn’t get down. We immediately went back to work and began focusing on VIR. We know what we have to do from here on out and we’ll do our absolute best to get the best results possible in these final three races.”

Since IMSA’s last visit to VIR, the track has been resurfaced as well as widened in several areas. The updates are expected to provide even better and more exciting racing as the field of 20 GS and 24 ST class machines take to the track for the Oak Tree Grand Prix.

Rum Bum Racing will have a promoter test day on Thursday as well as two practice sessions on Friday to dial in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche on the renovated circuit. A 15-minute qualifying session will take place Friday evening at 5:10 PM ET. The 2.5-hour race is set to go green on Saturday at 2:05 PM ET.

The race will be carried LIVE on IMSA.com and will re-air on FOX Sports 1 Sunday, August 31 at 10:00 AM ET.

Follow @RumBumRacing on Twitter for updates! As always, live timing and scoring is available throughout the weekend at www.imsa.com.

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Elkhart Lake, Wis. (9 August 2014) – In a day that saw Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing team fight hard from the back of the pack all the way up to lead the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America in the closing laps on Saturday, the stars did not align for the Rum Bum squad as a ball joint failure took the team out while running third with three laps to go.

It was a heartbreaking day for the team and its drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi who had been welcomed to the classic Road America circuit by a large contingent of Rum Bum Racing fans – family and friends of Jennifer Bacardi who calls Wisconsin home. A brilliant effort by the team came up just a few laps short of taking a fourth consecutive podium finish at the 4-mile road course.

Longhi opened the race from the fourth row and moved up to seventh in his stint, which included a longer yellow flag period for a multi-car crash in the ST category before opening a long green flag run. Longhi pitted the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche 40 minutes into the 2.5-hour race for fuel, tires and a driver change as he handed the car over to Plumb to take to the checkered flag.

As Plumb took to the track, the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche was not handling perfectly and he took to pit road with 1 hour and 25 minutes remaining for the crew to check out the car. The crew topped off the No. 13 with fuel and upon returning to the fray, Plumb ran 18th in line.

When a full course caution was displayed with an hour remaining, Plumb ran 16th and crew chief Joe Varde called him to pit lane for fuel and left side tires. The strategy call to take left side tires as well as a perfectly executed stop by the Rum Bum crew saw the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche leapfrog up the order to run second at the restart.

“I come out and they tell me I’m in second – it was crazy,” said Plumb. “But I’ve come to expect this from these guys because when we have issues when things go wrong, everybody just gets together and gets it done.”

The field went back to green with 40 minutes remaining and veteran sportscar racer Plumb pounced in Turn 3 to take over the race lead. As a gaggle of cars behind fought for position, Plumb was able to extend a one-second gap over the field.

A third full course yellow came out just laps later and as Plumb led the field back to green with 25 minutes to go, the No. 13 Porsche was at the disadvantage with the big V8 engined muscle cars in hot pursuit.

Making the most of his track position and momentum, as well as car placement, Plumb fought to hold on to the point.

Both the Rum Bum team and the fans in attendance were on the edge of their seats in what turned out to be a brilliant battle for the lead as Plumb eventually had to give way to the high-horsepower machine.

Despite losing the lead, it looked like Rum Bum Racing would once again taste the spray of champagne on the podium at Road America but it was not meant to be when the ball joint failure presented itself in the final laps.

“Every day that I’m out on a racetrack doing this for a living is fun, so I have to keep that in perspective,” said Plumb. “But not being able to hold position while you’re out there is terribly frustrating. Because you want to do well for the team, the fans, the owners, everybody. We did everything we could to finish well today. We had great pit stops, our driving was good – Nick’s pace was good. But it just is what it is. The good and the bad of the whole thing was – the bad was that we didn’t finish the race due to a part failure. But the good was hopefully from the outside it was incredibly entertaining and it was worth it for everyone that came out and for all of the Bacardi fans and guests here this weekend.”

“The team is just phenomenal,” echoed Longhi. “I just can’t say enough about this team. They never get down, they always keep pushing, no matter the circumstances. It’s frustrating not to have the outright pace to keep up with the Camaros but we did the best we could today and that’s all you can ask for. A big thanks to Luis and Jennifer Bacardi and all of our Rum Bum fans for their support here this weekend.”

Rum Bum Racing will next travel to VIRginia International Raceway August 22-23 for Round 10 of the 2014 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.-

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Orlando, Fla. (5 August 2014) – Road America is a classic and historic road course and is considered by many to be the best venue for road racing in North America. For Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing and its drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb, the track is a favorite on the 2014 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race schedule – and not just because it is one at which Rum Bum has been particularly successful.

In three years of competing at the 4-mile iconic Road America circuit, Rum Bum’s Longhi and Plumb have stood on the podium every time. The group won the previous two events at the track while competing in the GRAND-AM Series and will go for three in a row on Saturday. Last year’s race came down to fuel strategy and a brilliant call from crew chief Joe Varde saw the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche take the victory on fumes.

The 2013 Road America win helped the team to secure the IMSA Championship title last year and the group hopes that another positive result at the Wisconsin road course will add to the team’s championship pursuit this year.

As the 2012 & 2013 IMSA GS Champions, Rum Bum Racing knows what it takes to win the title. While outright pace is important, many races are often won by good strategy – which is something Rum Bum Racing is known for. A venerable group of team members combine to provide a championship caliber platform.

Rum Bum Racing has been a championship contender all season long, but the squad took a hit in the previous Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge outing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Engine troubles took the No. 13 car out early leaving Rum Bum unable to collect the highly valuable and sought after championship points.

The Florida-based team now sits third in the championship, 30 points out of the lead. A third consecutive Road America victory would be a welcome championship boost as the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge enters its final run of four races.

“It was a very big setback in the championship for us to score nothing in Indy, but we’ve seen this thing go down to the wire every year so the last thing we are doing is calling it done,” said Plumb. “With Road America being pretty much a second home for this team, there is no better place to get back on the good-luck train. Jennifer (Bacardi) has so many friends and family that come out for the weekend, it’s always a lot of fun. Hopefully we can have the same kind of race results we’ve had there before, as we will need to go ‘all in’ for every race from here on out and just see where things land.”

Rum Bum Racing has extra incentive to win at Road America as the team travels to Jennifer Bacardi’s home state. Longhi and Plumb are always welcomed with a large contingent of Rum Bum family, friends, and fans at the track who would love nothing more than to celebrate in Road America victory lane for the third consecutive year.

It will be a quick two-day race event for Rum Bum Racing who will take part in two practice sessions as well as qualifying on Friday. The 2.5-hour Continental Tire Road Race Showcase goes green Saturday at 12:15 PM Central Time and can be viewed LIVE on www.imsa.com.

The race will be televised on Sunday, August 17 at 12:00 PM ET on FOX Sports 1.

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INDIANAPOLIS (25 July 2014) – Rum Bum Racing had been hoping to kiss the bricks at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday as the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge visited the iconic track for Round 8 of the championship, but instead, the team was kissed with bad luck with a disappointing race weekend at the Brickyard.

The Florida-based squad unloaded off the trailer with confidence for the quick two-day event with drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longi, the defending IMSA champions. Thursday saw two practice sessions ahead of qualifying and the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche posted the seventh and eighth quickest times of the sessions, respectively.

Looking to secure a solid starting spot for the race around the Brickyard in qualifying Thursday afternoon, the No. 13 Porsche was unable to complete a flying lap due to contact early in the session. The damage was enough to keep the car from making a qualifying run and the team went to work Thursday night to make repairs.

Longhi was ready to make big moves through the field in Friday’s 2.5-hour race before turning the car over to Plumb, but unfortunately the race day ended early for the team. After just one lap of running, the motor on the No. 13 let go and Longhi was forced to pull the car off track.

“First off, a shout out to our friend Jackie who is battling a health issue, I’m sorry we were not able to entertain her longer today and we are out so early,” said Plumb, who serves as both driver and Team Manager for Rum Bum Racing. “This is tough. Luck is a funny thing—when you’ve got it, you’ve got it. But we’ve been in a rough patch the last two races. It’s hard, the Rum Bum guys rebuilt the car after the incident at Mosport to be ready for this weekend and then after the incident in qualifying, we had to put a lot of work into the car again so this is really disappointing. I hate it for Luis (Bacardi) and for all the effort this team has put in. But we’ll be ready to go again for Jennifer’s (Bacardi) home race and really will be looking to get back on the good luck train up there.”

Rum Bum Racing next heads to Road America in two weeks and the 2012 & 2013 championship-winning team will look to go for its third consecutive win at the historic road course.

The post Rum Bum Racing Dealt Disappointment in Indianapolis appeared first on Rum Bum Racing.

Orlando, Fla. (23 July 2014) – Racing at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway is always special, but for Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing, nothing would be more special than kissing the Speedways’ famous bricks with a victory in Friday’s Brickyard Sports Car Challenge (fans can watch live atwww.imsa.com).

Since debuting in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge in 2010, Rum Bum Racing has amassed 25 podium results – including 15 wins – on 13 different circuits. But one place the team has yet to experience the sweet spray of champagne is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb would love nothing more than to change that fact as the duo are set to once again share the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche in Friday’s Brickyard Grand Prix.

Rum Bum Racing currently sits second in the championship standings just six points out of the lead. And with just five more races on the 2014 schedule, positive performances through the rest of the season will be key to winning the organization’s third consecutive IMSA championship title.

When the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in 2012, Rum Bum Racing finished a disappointing 12th after being hit hard by another competitor late in the race. Last year, the group rallied to a fifth place finish after an ill-timed caution period followed a pit stop and caught the team out. Despite the setback, the team fought back to a fifth place finish.

While both Longhi and Plumb have experience on the Indianapolis road course, this year’s race sees the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge field take on a slightly reconfigured circuit as all the teams will be looking to learn the new course and quickly get up to speed.

“The team did a great job to turn the car around from Mosport after we got tangled up in that last lap crash,” said Plumb. “We’ve had mixed luck here at the Speedway so hopefully we can stay out of trouble and bring home some more points. It’s a new track in a way with the revised layout, so Nick and I are eager to get out there and see what we can learn in practice for the race.”

Over the previous seven races this year, Rum Bum Racing has remained a championship contender with six top-10 results to their credit which included a win at Lime Rock Park and a third place podium finish at Watkins Glen. Plumb and Longhi have established themselves as leading players in the Championship, with the Rum Bum squad also having proved to be one that can never be counted out.

As the team looks for valuable points toward the championship, a win at Indy would position the squad well for the final run of four races.

Rum Bum Racing will take part in two practice sessions on Thursday ahead of qualifying which takes place at 3:30 PM ET. The Brickyard Sports Car Challenge will go green at 2:35 PM ET on Friday and will be streamed LIVE on IMSA.com.

Follow @RumBumRacing on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend. Live timing and scoring can be found at www.imsa.com.

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Bowmanville, Ontario (12 July 2014) – When Rum Bum Racing entered Round 7 of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the team knew it had its work cut out for them.

But Rum Bum Racing was ready to rise to the challenge and used the typically prudent Joe Varde strategy to the best of their ability in order to make up ground in the race. The team’s strategy nearly worked out perfectly for the Rum Bum Racing squad, but an ill-timed caution period saw the team unable to capitalize on track position. The group came home ninth in the end, but not for lack of effort.

Nick Longhi started the race from 14th on the grid and moved up to 11th during the opening run as he kept the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche clean through the traffic of 47 cars on track. When the strategy call came for Longhi to pit just 37 minutes into the race, he took to pit road for a routine stop of fuel and fresh sticker Continental Tires, and handed the car over to Matt Plumb.

Plumb emerged 20th in the order and a lap down to the leaders. Right on the tail of the second place Camaro of Matt Bell, Plumb drove hard in an attempt to get his lap back. Unfortunately, the race went under full course caution before Plumb could work his way ahead of the leading Camaro machines and he was forced to wait for the “wave by” under the caution which would return him to the lead lap.

Once the No. 13 Porsche was allowed to pass the pace car and return to the lead lap under yellow, the race was about to go back to green. Plumb hustled the Porsche to its limits as he tried to catch back up to the rear end of the GS field, but the race went green while he was still among the ST class field in 18th place in class.

Plumb steadily worked his way forward through a green flag run and pitted with 54 minutes remaining in the race for left side tires and fuel. He returned to the track 15th in line in need of a yellow flag to bunch the field back up.
That full course caution came with 50 minutes to go and Varde radioed to the team that they were “back in the ball game.” Once several of the other competitors had made their final pit stops under the yellow, Plumb found himself restarting from the ninth position. The race went back to green for about seven minutes and Plumb had worked his way forward into the seventh position before another full course caution slowed the field.

A final restart came with less than 20 minutes to go and as Plumb fought for race pace, he slotted into eighth through the final laps. It looked like Plumb would take eighth at the checkered flag until contact just ahead of the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche in the final corner saw the Porsche machine hit from the side and forced into the inside concrete wall. Plumb limped the damaged car across the finish line to earn ninth place points.

“I came out (after the first pit stop) a lap down on four sticker tires and I couldn’t get by the Camaros who were racing on 40-lap old tires, so that was a bit depressing I have to admit,” said Plumb. “We’re fighting an uphill battle right now, but we’re trying to just get as many points as possible as we can right now. We’re still in this championship and we’re going to fight hard in every race from here on out. Joe Varde always has the right strategy calls and today we just got a bit unlucky. But we’ll go on to the next one and work just as hard as we did this weekend.”

“Had there not been that ill-timed yellow, we were looking pretty good,” added Longhi. “Matt (Plumb) drove the wheels off of the car. We just tried to minimize the damage in the uphill battle we have with the rules and the extra weight of the car. The Rum Bum team performed flawlessly today and we did the best we could with what we had.”

Rum Bum Racing will be back in race action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in two weeks. The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park event will be televised on FOX Sports 1 Sunday, July 20 at 10:00 AM ET.

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Orlando, Fla. (8 July 2014) – Fresh from a well-fought podium finish at Watkins Glen, Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing will return to IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge competition as the team is set to make its first-ever race start at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this Saturday. Drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi will share the driving duties in the IMSA championship-leading No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche 911 as the series stages Round 7 of the 2014 championship.

The track, long known as “Mosport” ahead of its recent revival and rejuvenation under a new ownership group, is a 2.5-mile natural terrain circuit set some two hours outside of Toronto with some blazing speeds and dauntingly quick corners. While the visit to the venerable facility is the first for Rum Bum Racing as a group, the team has a deep roster of experience at the track that the championship squad will look to convert into another stout points performance North of the border.

After not having the outright pace to race to the front of the pack, the Watkins Glen round saw Rum Bum Racing pull a page out of their playbook to use an alternate fuel strategy to move the car up to third at the finish. The result sees the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche now locked into a tie for the championship lead as the team looks to score an unprecedented third consecutive team title.

While the weekend is the first visit to the track for the team, the drivers have both seen many laps and some champagne showers to boot, with Longhi having raced everything from Porsches to Mustangs in Speedvision Cup to Rolex Sports Car Series competition through the years.

Plumb also brings a winning pedigree to the event, having taken a victory in World Challenge competition at the track as well as scoring an IMSA Continental Tire podium in 2008. Rum Bum Racing scored its second-ever (on the way to 15 so far) victory in 2010 when the IMSA category raced at Trois-Rivieres, and will look to make the Canadian venture another successful one.

“It has been a while since we raced at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park—so long that it was called something else the last time we were there!” joked Plumb. “It’s a very fun track for the drivers and an equally big challenge to get the most out of every lap. Getting back to the podium at the Glen was down to the genius of Joe (Varde) more than anything else and it would be great to keep this momentum up after winning at Lime Rock and then a podium the last two races. We know that we’ve got to take whatever we can points-wise out of every weekend so that’s the goal again for this weekend.”

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Watkins Glen, N.Y. (28 June 2014) – It was another big day for Rum Bum Racing at Watkins Glen International on Saturday as the team captured its third consecutive IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge podium at the 3.4-mile upstate New York road course.

Through a mix of strategy, teamwork and drivers’ Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi strong performance in the No. 13 Porsche, Rum Bum Racing took third when the checkered flag flew on the Continental Tire 150 at the Glen. The result marks the third consecutive top four finish for the championship-defending team.

Longhi opened the race from the fourth row after qualifying seventh on the 59 car combined class grid. Fortunately, the forward starting position allowed Longhi to avoid a multi-car incident which took place behind him as soon as the green flag waved. Debris littered the front straightaway and a long clean up kept the race from starting in earnest for nearly half an hour.

When the field went back to green, the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche ran eighth and moved up to seventh where Longhi would run through the remainder of his stint. Crew Chief Joe Varde took advantage of a second full course caution period with about 50 minutes completed. The team delivered a perfect pit stop and Longhi handed the car over to Plumb who re-entered the track 22nd in line. But he soon found himself back in podium contention as pit stops cycled through and he restarted fifth.

Plumb worked his way into third position and continued to run there through a longer green flag run as he fought to keep up with the outright track-record-setting pace of the Camaros. A final routine pit stop saw Plumb emerge from pit lane 18th in line, but as all cars made their final stops he made his way back into the top-five.

In the final laps, Plumb slotted into fourth as he began to gain on third place. With just three minutes to go in the 2.5-hour race, the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche took over third with cheers erupting from the Rum Bum pit box. Despite the speed disadvantage to the Camaros, the championship-winning team’s preparation and strategy saw Rum Bum Racing rise to the challenge.

“That was a total team effort once again,” said Longhi. “This podium was done on strategy and the experience from Joe (Varde) and the crew. It was flawless execution. As you can see from the lap times, the Camaros and Nissans were outright faster. So to be on the podium is fantastic but it’s 100% because of the team and the quality of every team member. There was nothing we could do on the racetrack. Very good points day for us, so it was a great day.”

“We knew from the moment we arrived at the Glen that we didn’t have the fastest car due to the track layout and certainly the forward adjustments on some other cars but all we had to do was finish ahead of those guys,” said Plumb. “We knew we had to run a clean and smart race. I had to run qualifying laps to keep up with the Camaros and luckily I was able to get close enough to draft a little bit.”

The third place result also was a welcome boost in the championship as the two teams ahead of Rum Bum Racing in the standings suffered setbacks at the Glen.

“I hate to move ahead in the championship based off of their misfortunes – if it had not been for that, we would have been in a little bit of trouble,” said Plumb. “But through strategy and consistency we were able to stay out there.”

Rum Bum Racing next heads to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in two weeks for Round 8 of the IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

The Continental Tire 150 at the Glen will air on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, July 6 at 10:00 AM.

The post Rum Bum Racing Takes Third at Watkins Glen appeared first on Rum Bum Racing.

Orlando, Fla. (24 June 2014) – Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing has made four trips to upstate New York’s Watkins Glen International since the team’s IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge debut in 2010, and in recent years has become quite familiar with the podium located in the Glen’s famous Gatorade Victory Lane. The 2012 & 2013 GS Champions won at the Glen in 2012 with drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi and the driving duo followed that up with a runner-up finish last year. And now on a hot streak after a frustrating start to the 2014 season, the team sits third in the championship and Longhi and Plumb have their eyes on that top step of the podium once again.

The checkered flag for the Continental Tire 150 at the Glen on Saturday marks the halfway point for the  IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season as several teams vie to stop Rum Bum from securing a third consecutive IMSA championship in the highly competitive category.

It hasn’t been an easy start to the year for the defending champs, but the determined group has rallied for four top-10 results in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche and has remained at the top end of the championship standings. A breakthrough victory two races ago gave the team a boost in momentum and the group finished fourth in the previous IMSA event at Kansas where just one lap of fuel was all that separated the team from a second consecutive win.
The championship-winning squad returns to the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen road course this weekend and is eager to make it three podiums in a row for the Florida-based team.

Last year, a challenging start to the race saw Rum Bum fight back to the Watkins Glen podium – once again putting the team’s dedication and perseverance on full display. After starting eighth, the No. 13 Porsche made contact early in the race which loosened the car’s hood and flipped it up onto the windshield. Fortunately, an unsighted Longhi was able to carefully make his way back to pit lane, but the No. 13 Porsche fell way down the order.

As rain fell later in the race, Plumb used it to his advantage and took over the race lead with a brilliant charge to the front. A late race caution provided a one-lap dash to the finish where Plumb battled a wet track while running on slick tires. Plumb ceded the lead on that final green flag lap and took second at the checkered flag.

In the team’s four and a half year history, Rum Bum Racing has emerged with positive results even when things don’t go exactly to plan. The team looks to capitalize on this experience and knowledge of the Watkins Glen circuit to return to the podium for the third consecutive year.

“This team gets it right most every single time,” said Plumb who nearly won the previous Kansas event before making a splash for fuel on the final lap. “In this series, things are bound to go a little off plan but this team makes the best of it no matter what. The team constantly works to make this car better and (crew chief) Joe Varde always seems to have a new strategy up his sleeve. So we’re optimistic about the Glen. For whatever reason, Watkins Glen has been good to us so we’ll just go back and do what we always do and hopefully come out of it with another big result.”

Rum Bum Racing will first take to the track on Thursday afternoon for practice. Friday will see another practice session and then a 15-minute qualifying run ahead of Saturday’s 2.5-hour Continental Tire 150 at the Glen event at 11:35 AM ET. Live video as well as timing and scoring is available at scoring.imsa.com/sportscar-challenge/.

FOX Sports 1 will televise the race on Sunday, July 6 at 10:00 AM ET.

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Kansas City, Kan. (7 June 2014) – In a race that provided for a rollercoaster of highs and lows for the team at Kansas Speedway Saturday night, Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing fought to a fourth place finish in the 2.5-hour Grand Prix of Kansas after leading 37 laps in the fifth round of 2014 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge competition. It was a difficult day for the Florida-based team, but despite having no radio communications through most of the race and needing to make a late-race splash for fuel in the waning laps, Rum Bum Racing powered to a fourth place finish at the checkered flag.

The result sees Rum Bum Racing maintain its position of third in the provisional championship standings as the team chases an unprecedented third consecutive IMSA championship.

Nick Longhi opened the 2.5-hour race from the front row after posting the second quickest time in Friday night’s qualifying session. As the field of GS cars all looked to move forward early on, some early maneuvers behind the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche saw a car from further back in the field jump the start as Longhi settled into third.

“We were careful on the start,” said Longhi. “Kris (Wilson, polesitter) braked very early, but one car came from way, way back and came between us. I figured that was optimistic on their part. And sure enough he got a jump start penalty. So then, knowing that he was going to have a penalty, I just cruised around behind him not to risk anything. From there it was just standard operating procedure. The car was good and I could creep up a little on the leader.”

The first of two cautions was displayed just 10 laps into the race and Joe Varde called the No. 13 Porsche to pit lane for fuel, tires and a driver change. Longhi handed the car over to co-driver Matt Plumb who returned to the track 16th in line.

When the field went back to green with two hours remaining in the race, Plumb began a charge through the field as the team determined that the in-car radio was not working. Plumb worked his way into the top-10 within three laps and up into the top-five with an hour and 30 minutes to go as he ran fourth. He passed several cars that still had yet to make a first pit stop and when all cars had made their first stops, Plumb took over the race lead.

Plumb developed a significant advantage over the entire field, and utilzing communication from the team via pit lane signs, he pitted under green flag conditions for fuel and tires. Quick work by the Rum Bum crew combined with the healthy gap Plumb had created saw the No. 13 Porsche emerge from pit lane still holding on to the lead with a 1.191-second margin over the second place car of James Davison.

A second full course caution period was displayed shortly thereafter and when the race went back to green flag running with 48 minutes remaining, a thrilling battle ensued between Plumb and Davison. The two swapped positions each lap as the two encountered the slower ST traffic through the tight confines of the infield road course section and the banked oval portion of the circuit.

As the race reached its closing stages, Rum Bum Racing looked poised for its second consecutive Kansas podium. But it was not meant to be, as Plumb was forced to bring the No. 13 machine to pit lane with just two laps to go for a splash of fuel. Fortunately, Plumb had enough of a gap that he was still able to salvage fourth at the checkered flag which completed a tough but good championship points day for the team.

“As soon as I pitted, about five minutes into the stint, the radio went out,” said Plumb. “I could see that I was in the lead but I wasn’t sure what the pace car was doing. Then the team showed me the sign to “save” so I was just doing as much as I could to save fuel. At one point I realized that if I didn’t save more by drafting the leader or getting behind a lapped car, I was never going to make it. So I did that, we did that for a couple of laps. And then the next sign was ,”Go!” so I did my best to make up some ground. Had we had one more lap under yellow, we’d have been fine. These guys get it right so many times, but you are going to have one not go exactly your way. We want to win every race, but this was good for the championship points.  I saw what had happened to the 46 car (championship leader, out of the race early) and I knew we just needed to finish.”

The Rum Bum Racing squad will target a third consecutive podium result in the next round of IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge action at Watkins Glen International on June 28.

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Kansas City, Kan. (6 June 2014) – The Rum Bum Racing No. 13 Porsche will start the Grand Prix of Kansas from the front row of the grid following Friday night’s 15-minute qualifying session which saw Nick Longhi turn a fast lap of 1:22.124-seconds and claim the second starting position. Longhi will open the 2.5-hour IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race on the Kansas Speedway ‘roval’ before handing the controls over to co-driver Matt Plumb as the duo targets a run to Kansas victory lane.

Having finished runner-up in the inaugural Kansas event last year, Rum Bum Racing looks to go one better in tomorrow night’s race.

The No. 13 Porsche rolled off of the trailer and was immediately quick as the team posted the third quickest time during the first practice held under warm and sunny track conditions. The Rum Bum squad worked to perfect the car through two one-hour practices ahead of qualifying.

Cooler track conditions welcomed the night time qualifying run as the session was held under the Kansas Speedway lights. Longhi completed just three laps during the session and set the provisional pole time on his very first hot lap.. He appeared well on his way to bettering that quick lap time until the No. 13 Porsche got loose and brushed the wall. The veteran sportscar racer’s experience at the wheel was on full display when Longhi managed to keep the car from spinning and returned it to pit road. The car remained stationary on pit lane for the remainder of the session but Longhi’s first flying fast lap was enough to secure second on the 52-car combined class grid.

“The conditions were going faster and when you’re going faster, you’re on the edge,” said Longhi of the run. “It was a good lap most of the way. I’m pretty sure we would of had the pole from what our timing looked like, but ¾ of the way through the oval, the car moved up a little bit. For the car to be fast on an oval in qualifying it has to be a little loose – the set up was right for the conditions. It just got super greasy right when I came off the corner and the wall just kind of knocked it straight and was enough for me to have to get out of the throttle. But we’re fine, we’re good for the race. It was just one of those things where it was a P1 but we’ll settle for a P2.”

Currently third in the team championship standings after their win in the previous event at Lime Rock Park, Rum Bum Racing’s championship-winning goal remains the same and the team aims to gain even more ground this weekend with another positive performance in Kansas.

Without another practice scheduled for the weekend, Rum Bum Racing will go straight into race action Saturday night at 6:15 PM CT.

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Orlando, Fla. (4 June 2014) – Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing travels to Kansas Speedway this weekend fresh off of a breakthrough first IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge victory of the season just two weeks ago at drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi’s home track, Lime Rock Park. It was a much welcomed result for the 2012 & 2013 championship winning team who had seen a run of bad racing luck through the opening three races of the IMSA season.

The team now hopes this will be the uptick in momentum needed as the 2014 championship races on with the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche in pursuit of a third consecutive championship title.

The fifth round of IMSA competition sees Rum Bum Racing return to Kansas Speedway which utilizes a good portion of the oval as well as the tight infield road course section. The six turn, 2.37-mile ‘roval’ circuit is a challenging one that Rum Bum Racing is well-prepared to take on having shown strong pace there in 2013.

After running toward the front through most of last year’s Kansas race, a late-race caution led to a nail-biting three-lap shootout with Plumb running second and challenging fellow American driver John Edwards for the win. But despite a valiant effort to deliver Rum Bum Racing’s 15th race win, Plumb settled for the second step of the podium – finishing just .425-seconds behind the leader. And with most teams building off of the data gathered last year, the race is certain to be another highly competitive one.

“Kansas made for some great racing last year so we’re excited to get back to it – especially coming off of such a big win for the team at Lime Rock,” said Team Manager and Driver Matt Plumb. “The race track is a bit of a difficult one with the high speed oval portions and the really tight and technical infield section. Last year everyone went into it perhaps a little bit blind, but now everybody has something to work off of this year. The 2014 championship is very tough – it seems everybody has upped their game and the competition is fierce. But we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We have the best team out there and with Joe Varde calling the strategy for us, we’re hoping to just keep delivering strong performances and leapfrog back up to the top of the championship standings.”

Rum Bum Racing, who has won 15 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge races, will look to add to that number this weekend with Longhi and Plumb returning to the podium – this time on the top step.

The Kansas Speedway schedule sees Rum Bum Racing take part in two hour-long practice sessions on Friday ahead of a 15-minute qualifying session Friday evening which takes place at 10:40 PM ET. The 2.5-hour Grand Prix of Kansas is set to go green on Saturday at 7:15 PM ET and can be followed with live timing and scoring on www.imsa.com.

Follow @RumBumRacing on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend.

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Plumb and Longhi combine for fourth consecutive podium and third win at Lime Rock Park

Lakeville, Conn. (24 May 2014) – Rum Bum Racing delivered in a big way at Lime Rock Park on Saturday as the defending IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge GS Champions took victory in the Northeast Grand Prix which marked Round 4 of the 2014 championship. It was a familiar sight as drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb combined for their fourth consecutive Lime Rock Park podium and their third Lime Rock win in four years.

The result saw Rum Bum Racing take its 15th overall win since the team’s first victory in its IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge debut in 2010.

The starting grid for Saturday’s 2.5-hour race was set by championship points after qualifying was rained out on Friday which saw Longhi open the event from sixth. He immediately went to work in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche as he moved up into the fourth position and ran among the top-five throughout his stint. He had moved up to second in the order when Crew Chief Joe Varde called him to pit lane for a routine pit stop and driver change.

Plumb took over driving duties with less than an hour and a half remaining in the race and returned to the track fifth in line. He took over the fourth position just prior to the one and only caution period which was displayed with just over an hour to go. Plumb brought the No. 13 Porsche to pit lane for the team’s final pit stop.The key moment of the race came during the pit stop as Varde called for only left side tires and fuel. That call saw the No. 13 Porsche exit pit road 15-seconds ahead of the closest competitor and Plumb return to the track with the race lead.

“I really focused on my stint from the beginning just trying to lay down laps that didn’t hurt the tires,” said Plumb of the final stint. “I’m always thinking that I’m not going to get a new set of tires – I’m always thinking ‘what is the team going to do that’s going to leapfrog me up in track position?’ and I knew that was going to be critical. I just tried to save the tires while trying to keep the pace. The pit stop was insane. It was faster than everybody else. After that, it was just about maintaining the tires and judging the gap and judging the traffic.”

The No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche led the most laps of the race and made the most of the clean air up front to set the fastest race lap on the way to taking the team’s first victory of the year.

“This is the perfect example of how our crew, Joe Varde, Bob, Ed, John and Terry, this is how they perform,” added Plumb who also serves as Rum Bum Racing’s Team Manager. “The car was great. It was decent in practice and then qualifying got rained out so we never got to see what we could really do. But the team made a ton of changes overnight and the car was brilliant. Again, I say it every time, but it is almost just up to me not to screw it up in the end because the team is the genius here and it feels really good to win.”

The win is even more special for Longhi and Plumb who each call Lime Rock Park their home track.

“We have such a strong team and we are so happy to be here, we have a lot of friends here,” enthused Longhi. “This is a fantastic place and track and it has been so good to us and we have good karma here. So thanks to all of the fans! As for the team, I just don’t know what to say. Joe Varde and the whole crew worked so hard today. I got a little optimistic on the start, then with some hard work from the team and I got out of the car and Matt took it to the win, so that is fantastic.”

Rum Bum Racing next travels to Kansas Speedway, where the team finished second last year, for Round 5 of the 2014 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge championship.

The post Rum Bum Racing Returns to Victory at Lime Rock Park appeared first on Rum Bum Racing.

Lakeville, CT (23 May 2014) – Rum Bum Racing will start the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park from sixth on the GS-class grid on Saturday after rain washed out qualifying on Friday with the starting grid set by championship point order. The event marks Round 4 of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge championship and as the defending IMSA champions return to a track where the team has seen much success, the group has high hopes of a positive result Saturday afternoon.

Friday’s practice saw a mix of cool and wet track conditions along with dry and sunny conditions. But when it came time to qualify, the skies opened up and the rain began to fall. With the track wet enough for Continental Tire rain tires, IMSA canceled the qualifying session and turned it into an optional practice.

Both Longhi and Plumb took a turn behind the wheel in the opening practice as rain began to fall late session. While many other teams opted to switch over to rain tires, Longhi remained on slicks and posted the fourth quickest lap time. He and Plumb followed that up with the eighth quickest lap in Practice 2.

Similar track conditions are predicted for race day so Longhi, who hopes for the great-equalizer of rain on Saturday, opted to take to the track during the 15-minute qualifying-turned-practice session for some wet weather running.

“I’m not really sure what to expect for tomorrow, as far as whether it will be wet or dry,” said Team Manager and driver Plumb. “The car is definitely good in the wet, we had a little bit of mixed conditions in practice this morning and the car has really good grip exiting the corners in the wet. Obviously the engine hanging off the rear helps a lot as well. In the dry I think we are struggling a little bit. The car isn’t quite as fast as we had hoped it would be in the field, but we are hoping that in long runs we will be able to stick with it and just hope for the best.”

The Northeast Grand Prix goes green at 2:15 PM tomorrow afternoon. Follow @RumBumRacing on twitter for race updates. Live timing and scoring is available at www.imsa.com.

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Orlando, Fla. (19 May 2014) – Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing is geared up for Round 4 of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and is eager to return to a track that holds fond memories for the team and drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi. Rum Bum Racing won outright at Lime Rock in 2011 & 2012 and finished third last year when the organization clinched both the 2013 Team and Driver IMSA championships.

Lime Rock Park is considered both Longhi and Plumb’s home track. Longhi resides in Nyack, New York which is 80 miles south of the circuit while Plumb lives just a three-hour drive away in Newport, Rhode Island. Having worked the furiously fast road racing bullring as instructors, and with countless laps around the 1.53-mile Connecticut road course to their credit, the duo can claim the home ground on the seven-turn track.

The track length plays a big role in strategy at Lime Rock as decisions are made quickly with each lap lasting just under a minute. Rum Bum Racing relies extensively on the canny strategy of crew chief Joe Varde which has seen the team pull off multiple victories through the years. It will be no different this year as Rum Bum looks to pick up its first win of the season in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche.

“We’ve been on the right path with our results, but we definitely are not where we want to be just yet,” said Plumb. “This is a place that has been pretty good to us through the years and it’d be awesome to kind of turn the corner for the rest of the season at Lime Rock. I know this whole team is eager to do that!”

Rum Bum Racing, who has 14 wins in just four years of IMSA competition, has not had the start to the 2014 season the team had hoped for, but as the organization returns to a track where they’ve seen so much success, Rum Bum aims to turn the page forward with a fourth consecutive trip to the podium on Saturday.

“It won’t be easy, as we’ve seen how strong the competition is this year,” said Plumb. “But like we showed at Laguna, if you don’t have the fastest car, that doesn’t mean that you can’t run up front. This place is big for strategy and maybe that’s what makes the difference on Saturday.”

The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge usually features a 60+ car combined-class grid but as the series takes to Lime Rock Park, the GS and ST classes will be separated with the ST class running in the morning and Rum Bum Racing’s GS category taking the green flag for the 2.5-hour Northeast Grand Prix at 2:15 PM Saturday afternoon.

“It’s Lime Rock, so that means we not only know the track, but we also know the people that work here, the best back roads to get here quickly, and it’s so familiar to you that it’s really comfortable to come race here,” said Longhi. “The other great thing is that this is a traditional weekend, and Matt and I both are lucky to have a lot of family here for the race and that always adds something to the weekend. Hopefully it brings us a little bit of good luck!”

The two classes will run separately all weekend through two practice sessions and qualifying on Friday and both races will take place on Saturday.

Live timing and scoring is available at www.imsa.com. Follow @RumBumRacing on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend.

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Monterey, Calif. (3 May 2014) – As Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing entered the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix event at Mazda Raceway’s Laguna Seca which features the famous 10-story climb to the Corkscrew corner, the team faced an uphill battle with the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche.

Heading into the weekend, Rum Bum Racing anticipated that the competitive fortunes would not be in their favor as the nimble but modestly-motored Porsche went to do battle against a fleet of big-displacement V8 machines.

But despite carrying more series-mandated weight than it has all year, some canny strategy from Crew Chief Joe Varde and perseverance from the entire Rum Bum Racing team saw the group rally to an eighth place finish after starting deep in the GS field.

Nick Longhi opened the 2.5-hour race from 13th on the grid and worked to keep the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche out of trouble as the 60-car combined class field took to the twists and turns of the challenging circuit. Varde opted for an alternate strategy early on in the race which saw Longhi hand the car over to Plumb during the second full course caution period just 16 minutes into the race.

Plumb returned to the field 21st in the order but ran clean and consistent laps to move his way into the top-10. He took over the race lead just prior to the half-way point in the race with the FOX Sports broadcast team remarking on how “Joe Varde just does everything right” in reference to the alternate strategy that saw the No. 13 take the race lead after starting the segment from 21st position. Relishing the clear air on offer while running up front, Plumb grew his lead to a 2.5-second advantage as the pack of cars behind battled for position.

Unfortunately, the alternate strategy did not come to fruition when Plumb felt something amiss in the car. With about one hour remaining, Plumb pitted under a full course caution and a problem on the right rear of the car was discovered.

“I don’t know what God we made angry, but when they’re angry, they’re angry,” said Plumb of the misfortune. “We had a good car and everything was going fairly well. We knew we didn’t have the pace some of the leaders had, but we knew we had a good consistent pace over long runs and about ¾ through my stint I started feeling something strange with the car. We started picking up a bit of understeer and in a straight line the car started darting around quite a bit. We knew we had a bit of a problem, so I came in for tires, and there was some sort of problem with the right rear. It was a great job by the team to figure it out quickly and keep us on the lead lap. ”

The Rum Bum Racing crew maintained its poise and quickly analyzed the problem, sent the No. 13 back out under yellow in order to remain on the lead lap and were able to make the quick fix during a second stop under the caution.

The race went back to green with 50 minutes remaining and Plumb started among the ST cars and picked off each one as he worked his way back up to the rear of the GS field. A lucky full course caution was displayed with just over a half an hour to go which bunched the field and Plumb restarted 19th in line. The team made the call to have Plumb return to pit lane with 20 minutes remaining and gave the No. 13 fresh rubber and Plumb made up six positions on a longer green flag run.

A final full course yellow brought a final dash to the checkered flag with just six minutes to go and Plumb made up even more time and improved four more positions to take eighth at the finish.

“I went out and just made up some time,” added Plumb. “The car was great. It’s handling better than it’s ever handled. We got lucky on some restarts and some yellows to bunch back up. It’s just a shame that this kind of stuff keeps happening. It’s just bad luck. The yellows saved us with our issue. Every time we went green, I’d make up some spots and then we’d bunch back up (with another yellow) and then I’d make up some spots when we went green. Without the yellows I would have been dead in the water.”

The preparation of the team kept the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche on the lead lap which then allowed Plumb to deliver the top-10 result for the team.

“Any time we have an issue, there is no panic and it just comes from the team having perspective on all of this,” offered Longhi. “They know bad luck is going to happen. There are too many moving parts in these cars and too many variables involved. Things are going to happen. They are prepared for anything and everything and they just go about fixing the problem and try to seal the sinking ship as much as possible.”

Rum Bum Racing will return to race action May 23-24 at Lime Rock Park where the team clinched both the 2012 & 2013 team championship titles.

The post Suffering Setback After Leading the Race, Rum Bum Racing Fights Back to Eighth in Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix appeared first on Rum Bum Racing.

Monterey, Calif. (2 May 2014) – Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing will take the green flag for Saturday’s Continental Tire Grand Prix of Monterey from 13th on the grid after Nick Longhi set a fast lap time of 1:37.029-seconds in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche on Friday.

The two hour, thirty minute race marks round three of the 2014 IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Championship as the two-time defending champion team looks to build momentum in their title defense.  

The 15-minute session saw Longhi able to set the time early, and come within tenths of  an identical lap time, lap after lap. 

“That car can do that lap time for an hour, no problem,” said Longhi. “While it is great that the car is that consistent, it’s just frustrating that the speed just isn’t enough.”

The field has seen a range of new high-horsepower machines join the championship, and the new entries have stolen the march early in the year with two races in the books. 

“The car really is as good as we’ve ever had it here. It’s balanced under braking and we are getting a great launch out of the slow-speed corners,” continued Longhi. “But we are carrying the BOP (IMSA’s “Balance of Performance”) weight and that really has a much bigger affect on us with one of the smallest motors in the field.”

Longhi and Plumb, who scored a podium finish at the track in 2011, have a deep reservoir of experience, and with Joe Varde calling the shots from the pit box, could still be a factor in the race on Saturday.

“It’s the team that has won the races and championships,  not the car,” said Longhi. “So, it’s frustrating that the rules right now have our car with all this weight. That’s really frustrating for me as a driver. But on the other hand, this is a team sport and this is simply an incredible team so we just have to focus on doing our jobs as well as we can tomorrow and seeing where that puts us.” 

Saturday’s two-hour, 30-minute race begins at 3:45 p.m. ET (12:45 p.m. PT), and will be streamed live on IMSA.com.

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Daytona Beach, Fla. (29 April 2014) – Luis Bacardi’s No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche will return to competition this weekend as the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series travels over 2,000 miles from the team’s Florida-based shop to Monterey, California for the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda which marks Round 3 of the 2014 Championship.

Veteran Rum Bum Racing pilots Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi, who have won 13 IMSA races together, join forces in the No. 13 Porsche machine as Rum Bum Racing pursues its third consecutive IMSA championship title.

The team has shown strength at the 2.238-mile circuit which showcases 17 turns and extreme elevation changes through the natural northern California terrain including the famous ‘Corkscrew’ corner.

When the team debuted at the track in 2011, Plumb and Longhi finished on the podium with a run to third place. In 2012, the team nearly won the race, running second as the field headed to a final green flag. But a tough call from the officials on the final restart instead saw the team dispatched to pit lane before taking the checkered flag deep in the pack. Fortunately, the call wasn’t enough to derail the team on the way to the 2012 Championship.

Last year, the No. 13 car experienced a rare mechanical setback after a rock kicked up into the motor, tearing up the serpentine belt and slowing the effort. But some smart driving by Longhi (to recognize the issue and then coast the car back to the pits from the top of the corkscrew) and some outstanding effort from the Rum Bum Racing crew saw the team make repairs and return to the track.

While the setback meant a disappointing 16th place finish, the huge effort still brought precious points to the team on the way to an encore IMSA Championship.

“We’ve had some good days and some not so good days at Laguna,” reflected Plumb. “We don’t have all  the muscle that some of the guys have for that long run up the hill to the Corkscrew. But, hopefully we can make that back a little bit on the back side of the track with some good handling. We’ve not yet got into a real rhythm with this championship and we just need to lock in a few solid finishes and build from there. The competition is incredible, but we are just focused on the fundamentals and fighting to get what we can out of each of these next few rounds.”

Rum Bum Racing hopes to achieve a second Laguna Seca podium result on Saturday in the 2.5-hour Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda which begins at 12:45 PM (PST) on Saturday. Live timing and scoring can be followed at www.scoring.imsa.com.

FOX Sports 1 will televise the race on Sunday, May 11 at 10:00 AM ET

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Sebring, Fla. (17 March 2014) –Racing in front of a record crowd on one of the toughest tracks in the country, Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing impressed in its first ever outing in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida on Saturday.

The Florida-based team l`ed the race early, but saw the team’s chances at a podium thwarted first after an issue with the fuel pump set the team back in the pack, and then subsequently when IMSA penalized the team, costing the effort two laps.

The championship squad, which was once again steered by Joe Varde with technical support from the accomplished Wright Racing organization, fought to earn the laps back and finish the race in ninth place with drivers Madison Snow, Hugh Plumb, Jan Heylen, and Matt Plumb combining to score a top-10 finish for Rum Bum Racing in its first-ever IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race.

“I think it just came down to a mechanical issue that we just didn’t have a whole lot of control over,” said Matt Plumb, who also took a top-10 finish in Friday’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge event. “The guys just kept fighting to get everything back. We were close; the whole first half of the day seemed to be going our way. All it takes is something little (to go wrong). It always amazes me that more stuff doesn’t go wrong with all of these moving pieces. Big thanks to Luis and Jennifer Bacardi for being here to witness the whole thing. I hope we can do it again some time.”

Sebring has long been known for beating up drivers and cars alike in its 61 previous runnings, but the 2014 edition proved to be unusually tough with a record number of cautions. The team’s efforts were also further thwarted by a procedural penalty that saw the No. 13 lose two laps while held on pit lane.  While race officials then apparently subsequently rescinded the penalty, but the time, and nearly seven miles to the leader, was already lost. Using speed and strategy, the team worked hard to make up the lost ground, but ran out of time to move further up the field as the group once again impressed in tough circumstances, operating smoothly at the highest level.

“It was a harder race than Daytona,” said Snow, who with Heylen had opened the season with a run to third in the Rolex opener. “We had a couple more issues here but we kind of knew that going in. It’s a bumpy track and it takes its toll on cars and drivers. We know we have the speed, and we’ve proved that. But we still pulled off a pretty good position, which is a pretty good place to be after 12 hours.”

A last-minute decision by IMSA officials about the continually evolving driver rankings saw Hugh Plumb drafted into the effort on short notice. But the experienced GT pilot slotted in seamlessly as he picked up on where he left off after first joining the team in Daytona.

“It was amazing,” said Hugh Plumb. “My hat goes off to the Rum Bum guys, who did a great job. We came into the pits in the lead twice in my two stints. Had it not been for this fuel pump issue, we would have been right there for the podium. It’s unfortunate, but it’s good. This was a brutal race and to come in and finish after that setback and compete in this GTD class with the speed that this team showed just underscored how strong Rum Bum Racing is. A huge thanks to Luis Bacardi for inviting me to be a part of it this weekend.”

“We came into the weekend a little bit behind from the test, but this team did an amazing job and it was great to work with everyone,” said Heylen. “We really had a perfect race as far as the job the drivers did and the effort from the team. We just had that one problem, and that was it. So it cost us a better finish but that is racing. Our car was very strong at the end and the performance was there, so I was really pleased. Now on to the next one!”

Rum Bum Racing will be back in IMSA action at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 3-4.

The post Rum Bum Racing Fights to Ninth at Sebring in IMSA TUDOR Debut appeared first on Rum Bum Racing.

Sebring, Fla. (14 March 2014) – Rum Bum Racing will make its debut in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida Saturday at Sebring International Raceway with the No. 13 Porsche GT America and will start from the inside of the fourth row after Jan Heylen posted a fast lap of 2:04.561-seconds during Friday’s 15-minute qualifying session.

In what has proven to be a stout GTD field in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, Heylen’s qualifying time was just three tenths off of the pole position time. He will share the No. 13 Porsche machine with co-drivers Madison Snow, Hugh Plumb, and Matt Plumb as the group looks for a strong finish at the 3.74-mile road course.

“I’m a little bit frustrated with myself because we were so close to the pole and I know the car had it in it,” said Heylen. “I know the qualifying doesn’t mean much for the race but, hey, that’s what we’re here for right?! We’ve had very little track time compared to the other teams so we’re just playing catch up. But man the Rum Bum guys have just done an amazing job in qualifying compared to where we were yesterday and this morning. Today the car was so much better and I feel good about the race tomorrow. It’s too bad we just missed the pole but we’ll do better tomorrow.”

The qualifying effort marked the end of a busy day for Rum Bum Racing as the team also competed in Round 2 of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. The team looked poised for another podium finish after another great strategy call from Joe Varde, but a trivial officiating call from IMSA saw the team fall a lap down before fighting back to take a disappointing 10^th place result at the finish.

“As far as the Continental race, as a team we functioned as well as we could possibly function,” said Team Manager and driver Matt Plumb. “We suffered the effects of a strange pit lane call by IMSA. But the good news is that our crew is up to form for the race tomorrow and the car is good, it is where we need it to be and we’re ready to go.”

The Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring will go green tomorrow at 10:15 AM ET. The first three hours of the race will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 with the entire race streamed live at www.imsa.com.

The Continental Tire race will air on FOX Sports 1 on Wednesday March 19th at 1:00 PM (ET) and again on FOX Sports 2 on Sunday March 23rd at 7:30 PM (ET).

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Sebring,  Fla. (13 March 2014) –  Nick Longhi will start Friday’s Sebring 200 from the seventh row after posting a fast lap time of 2:17.212-seconds at Sebring International Raceway in Thursday’s qualifying session. The race, which marks the second round of the 2014 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar (CTSC) Championship, will be aired live at www.imsa.com starting at 1:00 PM ET live on Friday.

Longhi will open the 2.5-hour race from behind the wheel before turning the controls on the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche over to Matt Plumb to take to the finish.

The qualifying result was far from satisfying for the team, but the focus is on the race finish as the group looks to bounce back after a disappointing day at Daytona to start the season. Rum Bum Racing won the 2012 and 2013 IMSA Championships and is targeting a return to the top of the charts as the season prepares to pick up momentum.

“We fought through a few issues this week, and are just not where we need to be yet,” said Longhi. “It is a bit frustrating not to have the speed that this team is capable of. But we’ve used strategy to win races before and hopefully we can do that again. Tomorrow’s race will surely be a bit chaotic, as Sebring is a very tough track and no one knows what to expect. But what I expect, what what we’ve seen before, is that this team will just keep focused and work our way forward tomorrow.”

Live timing and scoring can be followed at www.scoring.imsa.com.

Rum Bum Racing Information:
2010: 3 Wins (Daytona, Trois Riviers, Miller Motorsports Park)
BMW Manufacturer Championship
2011: 3 Wins (Daytona, Lime Rock Park, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course)
BMW Manufacturer Championship
2012: 5 Wins (Barber Motorsports Park, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Road America, Watkins Glen, Lime Rock Park)
IMSA Team Champions, Porsche wins Manufacturer Championship
2013:    3 Wins (Barber Motorsports Park, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Road America)
IMSA Team and Driver Champions, Porsche wins Manufacturer Championship

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