Looking to Extend Win Streak Out West

© Juha Lievonen / Rum Bum Racing

Rum Bum Racing opened the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season in dramatic fashion, taking a win at Daytona International Speedway in the team’s first-ever race start to kick start the year. Some nine fast months later, Rum Bum Racing will look to close the year out with a similar result as the series heads west for the final race of the 2010 season at Miller Motorsports Park.

Along with their helmets and racing suits, drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longi will also pack the positive momentum of their recent race win for the Miller weekend after the duo teamed for a victory in the previous round of GRAND-AM racing north of the border on the famed streets of Trois Rivieres last month.

While Plumb and Longhi both have experience on the track, the visit to the Miller Motorsports Park track is the first for Rum Bum Racing. But with the facility utilizing a different track layout than in years past, the team will be learning the new circuit at the same time as the competition starting with Thursday’s promoter test day.

The win in Trois-Rivieres, and the run to second place at New Jersey Motorsports Park in the previous round, have the team looking forward to bookending the year with race victories. 

“For us to win at Trois-Rivieres in our first visit there, I think says a lot about the depth of talent  we have at Rum Bum Racing,” said Plumb. “It is a very tough track, and to perform like we did was satisfying for all of us on the team and a great way to show our appreciation for the support we’ve had from Luis Bacardi, who fortunately was right there with us to celebrate in Trois Riviers. It was a great weekend, but now we are focused ahead to what we need to do to have that kind of performance out at Miller.  It will be interesting to see what the new track layout feels like, but we are confident that it will suit our BMW M3.”

By taking the win in round nine to follow up a run to second place in the previous round, Rum Bum Racing has posted the best finish for BMW in three of the nine races so far this season,  boosting the BMW points tally to a healthy 28 point advantage in the GRAND-AM Manufacturer Championship with just two and a half hours of racing yet to go in 2010.

“There are a lot of teams with several seasons of experience racing here in GRAND-AM with BMW equipment, so we’ve been proud to bring them the points that we have so far this year  as a rookie team,” said Plumb. “Hopefully we can do that once again this weekend and help BMW clinch this Manufacturer Championship.”

The new 3.048-mile circuit will get its first exposure on Thursday in the promoter test day, with Friday’s practice sessions providing more track time ahead of the qualifying session on Saturday morning, with the race set for a 4:45 PM local green flag time. SPEED will broadcast the race on September 18 starting at 9:00 p.m. EDT.