Homestead, Fla. (24 April 2012) – Rum Bum Racing won’t have far to travel this weekend as GRAND-AM returns to team owner, Luis Bacardi’s home track of Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Kia 200 and Round 3 of the 2012 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship.
The team rides a wave of momentum having claimed victory in their Porsche debut at Barber Motorsports Park with drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb. Following the Rum Bum Racing squad’s fifth place result to open the season at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year, the team made the bold switch from the BMW that had taken the team to six wins to move to the Porsche platform.
Despite only having limited time to learn the new Porsche Carrera, Rum Bum Racing wasted no time in charging to the front of the field with Longhi running among the top-five throughout the beginning stages of the race before handing the controls to Plumb who led 39 laps en route to the team’s first win of the season.
Competing in only its third season, Rum Bum Racing has already amassed seven victories as the team continues to add race wins to their resume with an eye toward the championship. Having missed the championship title last year by just 14 points, Rum Bum Racing is ever more focused on claiming the crown this year. And a win at their home track would be the perfect way to gather the maximum points needed for their championship-winning goal.
The team snagged the pole in last year’s Homestead event with Longhi laying down a fast lap time of 1:25.994 seconds and went on to take a fifth place result in the race. After enjoying an outstanding debut with the Porsche at Barber, the team knows that everything starts over again as GRAND-AM stages round 3 of the championship.
“We’ve had a great start to the year so hopefully we can carry that momentum over to Homestead this weekend,” said Plumb. “This track might not flatter the Porsche the way that Barber did, but we are excited to keep learning about this car and bringing home some solid results and just bank as many points as possible. If we can win, that’s the best way possible to do that but we know that the big-motor cars are traditionally very strong at Homestead. But we are ready to fight for whatever we can take out of the weekend. It’s a home race for us so that adds another layer of motivation for us all!”
The entire Rum Bum Racing staff and crew will also be hoping for some good news following the sad news that fellow GRAND-AM competitor Taylor Hacquard is in hospital after being attacked in his native Canada. The Kia 200 opens with a promoter test day on Thursday, April 26 followed by official practice and qualifying on Friday. The 2.5-hour race begins at 2:45 PM (ET) on Saturday, April 28.
Live timing and scoring can be followed throughout the weekend at www.grand-am.com The Kia 200 will be televised May 12 at 12:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.
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