Rum Bum Racing Targets Top Step at Mid-Ohio

© Wes Duenkel

Fresh from a record-setting run on the wide-open spaces at Kennedy Space Center, Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing will travel to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend for the final round of the 2011 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship and looks to return to its winning ways as the team hopes to close out the season in the same way it opened it at Daytona - with a trip to victory lane.

Drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi have driven an impressive 2011 season to score six top-five results in nine races – including two wins (Daytona & Lime Rock Park) and four podium results. Additionally, Longhi has placed the No. 13 BMW M3 on the pole three times so far this year beginning with the first two races of the season at Daytona and Homestead and then again at Road America.

“The Rum Bum guys have worked hard to give us a strong, quick car each and every race weekend and those efforts have certainly shown on the track,” said Longhi. “We’ve had a strong year with solid results and even though we had targeted a little more in the championship,  I’m really looking forward to heading to Mid-Ohio with the BMW.    It’s a fun and challenging track and I think we have another good shot for a finish at the front.”

Last year Plumb and Longhi followed up a victory at Three Rivers with a second straight win in the season-finale at Miller Motorsports Park after starting the event from the second position. As the 2011 season comes to a close, the driving pair looks to finish it out in the same triumphant fashion as last year’s finale when they led 17 laps en route to the win.

Both drivers have years of experience at the Mid-Ohio circuit with Plumb having scored a podium finish at the track in his rookie Rolex Series season when he ran at the front of the field for 31 laps in the RumBum.com BMW Daytona Prototype on his way to finishing third. Plumb also scored his first-career SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car victory at the track in 2004.

Longhi has had two GRAND-AM starts at Mid-Ohio with a best finish of 10th in 2005 while driving the Falcon Racing Ferrari 360 GT.

Currently third in the Team Championship Standings, Rum Bum Racing sits just 24 points out of the championship lead and will look to make up ground in the championship hunt with another strong result at Mid-Ohio.

“This team has really shown what it can do this year and even after we got hit and took all that damage at VIR, they gave us a car to win at Lime Rock,” said Plumb. “Mid-Ohio should be interesting--the Camaros have really come on strong with some wins and the Mustang is right there as well, so it should be a really close fight. It’s been a strong season for us and while I think we need some major luck in order to win the championship, we’ll do everything we can to have the best result possible and finish as high in the championship standings as we can.”

The EMCO Gears Classic weekend begins with a promoter test day on Thursday, September 15 followed by official practice and qualifying on Friday. The green flag is set to wave for the 2.5-hour race on Saturday, September 17 at 11:00 AM (ET).

The race can be followed with live timing and scoring at www.grand-am.com. SPEED will carry coverage of the event on Saturday, September 25 at 12:00 PM (ET).