Orlando, Fla. (16 March 2015) – In Round 1, the Rum Bum Racing magic mix of talent and hard work generated another huge victory for the team at Daytona, and the squad is looking to repeat the feat this Friday.
When Luis Bacardi’s Rum Bum Racing travels to Sebring International Raceway for Round 2 of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Championship, the team won’t have far to go. The Florida road course is as close to home as it gets for the championship team, located just 90 miles south of the Rum Bum Racing shop in Orlando.
Rum Bum Racing opened the season with a big victory at the team’s “other” home track, as Daytona International Speedway is just an hour’s drive north of the race shop. Drivers, and brothers, Matt Plumb and Hugh Plumb led 34 laps in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche to claim the Daytona victory and are targeting a repeat performance in the 2.5-hour Visual Studio 150 (FOX Sports 1 broadcast, April 5 9:00 AM ET).
The Florida team showed podium potential in its Sebring Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge debut last year, only to settle for a 10th place result following a trivial pit call that ended up having a huge affect on the result. Though Hugh Plumb will take his first competitive laps in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche around Sebring this year, he teamed with Matt Plumb as well as Jan Heylan and Madison Snow last year when Rum Bum Racing campaigned the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GTD class with a run to ninth place in the iconic race.
In the two months since the Daytona victory, Rum Bum Racing has been hard at work during the break and is well-prepared to take on one of the toughest tracks on the 2015 calendar. The 3.74-mile, 17-turn former airport road course is a very bumpy and physically demanding circuit which requires not only strong racecraft, but also strong car preparation.
“It was just incredible to open this year with a win and it was the perfect way to launch the season,” said Plumb. “But we saw in Daytona how this series has gotten even more competitive—which is something I didn’t think was possible. So we know after winning the first race that we’ll have targets on us and the Camaros and Mustangs will be strong. Racing in Florida, in front of the fans that you only find at Sebring, is a blast for us and we’d love to add to the Bacardi’s history of doing so well in the home state!”
Rum Bum Racing Crew Chief Joe Varde, who is well known in the IMSA paddock for his leadership atop the pit box, is a five-time IMSA Champion and has a long history at Sebring. He has several victories at the Sebring circuit which included the GTU class victory in the 1994 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring while driving a Porsche.
IMSA.com will carry a LIVE broadcast of the Sebring event beginning at 1:05 PM ET on Friday as well as timing and scoring throughout the weekend.
FOX Sports 1 will televise the race on Sunday, April 5 at 9:00 AM ET.
