SCC: Millville: Rum Bum Racing race report

RUM BUM RACING FINISHES IN SECOND PLACE IN GARDEN STATE 250

MILLVILLE, NJ, 17 July - Rum Bum Racing capped a strong showing throughout the weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park with a second place finish in the Continental Sports Car Challenge Garden State 250. Drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb combined to execute a perfect strategy that took advantage of an early full course caution period to make a driver change, leaving them in a position to be flexible with the timing of their second and final pit stop.

At the start of the race, Longhi quickly settled into third place, a position he would hold until the yellow flags flew some 25 minutes into the race.

"At the start I went into turn 1 and had a look at the lead but I was on the outside and thought discretion the better part of valor, so I tucked into third and kept it there. Early on there was slight misfire, that dropped me away from the leaders for a couple of laps. It soon cleared itself up and after that I was able to get back up to the top two cars and stay with them quite comfortably. The second caution period came at the right time for our strategy and we made a really fast driver change to put us in the ideal scenario to dictate our pace and strategy for the rest of the race," said Longhi.

Plumb, took over the driving duties returning to the race in 30th place as several family members were on hand to support the Rhode Island-based University of Virginia grad. Steadily he gained a place or two nearly every lap until by lap 42, Plumb had regained the third place he had inherited from Longhi. Coincidentally, another full course caution transpired at that point and Plumb made for the pits to top up on fuel to last the duration. Having already changed drivers and tires in their first stop, the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing BMW M3 was now in second place for the restart. Thereafter, it was a 25-minute dash to the finish.

At one point Plumb was within a second of the eventual race-winning No. 61 Mustang, but he seemed to catch the traffic in the worst places while the Mustang seemed to have better luck.

"Nick did a great job in his first weekend with the team and the car. From practice to qualifying to the early part of the race, everything went great," said Plumb. "When I took over, I did what I had to do which was to be really mindful of taking care of the tires and it worked. In the final 30 minutes, the car ran beautifully. I don't know if I had enough for the Mustang. Catching him was one thing, but getting around would have been something different. He had a little bit better luck with the traffic than I did, but nonetheless, I'm very happy with this result."

The Continental Sports Car Challenge now gets nearly a month off before the next round, the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada on August 13-14.

-source: rum bum racing