SCC: Trois-Rivieres: Rum Bum Racing preview

Rum Bum Racing Ready For Canadian Debut

11 August 2010 - Fresh from earning a return to the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge podium with a run to second place last month at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Rum Bum Racing will target another strong finish this weekend with drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi sharing the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing BMW M3 as the series heads north for a first-ever night race and the 41st running of the Grand Prix du Trois-Rivieres this Friday night.

The event marks the penultimate round of the 2010 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Championship and continues a long-established racing tradition on the tight 1.521-mile street circuit that has hosted names like Villenueve and Rahal through the decades.

Like most of the tracks that GRAND-AM races on, Plumb not only knows his way around the iconic street circuit, but he also knows where the podium is. Plumb has raced in Trois Riveres several times, with highlights including qualifying on the front row and finishing in second in just two of his previous visits to the event, which traditionally becomes the epicenter of Canadian motorsports enthusiasm for the weekend.

With a passionate crowd on hand offering enthusiastic support all weekend long, the visit to the Canadian track is generally regarded as a highlight for the season, and with the series staging a race with a green flag time of 7:00 PM on Friday night, this visit will establish a new chapter in that tradition starting this weekend.

"Trois Rivieres is always an exciting event, the way the entire town shuts down to stage the race weekend," said Plumb. "It's a very challenging track for the drivers because the course is mostly set out by concrete walls, so there is no room for error. It is also very hard on brakes, so you have to be smart with the car the entire race. But we should be competitive again this weekend. We are also excited because Luis Bacardi will be up there with us and hopefully we can bring him another trophy this weekend. The BMW M3 is a very well-balanced car, and is also excellent under braking. Nick did a great job for us in New Jersey and it paid off with a podium so we are hoping that will be the case again on Friday night!"

While Plumb has seen the track from every angle including the view from the podium, his co-driver Longhi has a different perspective on the track from his one and only previous visit to the event.

"I was working at an event at Tremblant doing some vintage Ferrari racing, and a team needed me to come over to Trois-Rivieres to help them out, so I hopped on a helicopter and we landed right by the track just before the start of practice. I jumped into the car and had never been there before and I was just trying to learn the track but by the end of the session, I was P1. Then I had to jump back in to the helicopter to head back to Tremblant and unfortunately, my co-driver had a problem and we weren't able to race that weekend, so that's the only experience I have there!"

Another team member who could talk you around a lap at Trois Rivieres blindfolded is crew chief Joe Varde, who has helped guide teams to championships with some know-how that plays huge dividends on tracks like Trois-Rivieres, once again giving Rum Bum Racing a strong hand in driver line up, car strength, and technical expertise heading into the big event.

-source: rum bum racing