HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Rum Bum Racing’s switch from BMW to Porsche for the 2012 Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season is paying off: the team won in its first outing, at Barber Motorsports Park on March 31, and the team will be starting the pole for Saturday’s Kia 200 from Florida’s Homestead-Miami-Speedway.
Driver Nick Longhi set a new track record in the new GS-class Porsche Carrera with a lap of 1:25.811at 96.491 mph, beating the mark of 1:25.994 at 96.286 mph he set here last year. He and co-driver Matt Plumb could not be in better shape for the 2.5-hour timed event tomorrow.
“I have to thank the crew, Rum Bum Racing and of course [team owner] Luis Bacardi for putting all this together,” Longhi said in a team press statement. “It’s all his idea—he’s the one who makes it happen for all of us. The crew and [crew chief] Joe Varde especially—and everybody who has been working on this car night and day since we got it.
“Obviously this is a track that I love. I’ve had a lot of success here—this is our second pole. Everybody has tracks they drive well at and this is one of them for me for sure,: Longhi continued. ”I feel really at home here. I love the track. I love the banking of the oval. I love the challenge of it, you know—scaring yourself. For whatever reason I like that more than thinking, so it’s better for me!”
