Last To First Charge Makes It Two in a Row for Rum Bum: Longhi and Plumb Win CTSCC Kia 200 at Homestead-Miami

Rum Bum Racing’s Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb started in last place but still won the Continental Tire Kia 200.
Last To First Charge Makes It Two in a Row for Rum Bum: Longhi and Plumb Win CTSCC Kia 200 at Homestead-Miami
Ryan Ellis and Martin Jensen won ST driving the #18 Insight Racing BMW 128i. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)
Chris Jasurek
4/29/2012
Updated:
4/30/2012
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/2002GSPodiumMImai2012WEB.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-229105" title="2002GSPodiumMImai2012WEB" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/2002GSPodiumMImai2012WEB-676x417.jpg" alt="Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb won the Garnd Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Kia 200 despite rain and a grid penalty. It was their second in a row. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)" width="750" height="463"/></a>
Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb won the Garnd Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Kia 200 despite rain and a grid penalty. It was their second in a row. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)

HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Rum Bum Racing’s Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb started in last place in Saturday’s Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Kia 200; two-and-a-half hours later, they were taking their second checkered flag in as many races in the #13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche, having come through the 67-car field with focused driving, amazing pit work, smart set-up, and great luck with the weather.

This was Rum Bum’s second win in their new Porsche 911, which replaced the BMW the team had been using . The first came at the Barber 200 in March—the first race with the new car. The second win at Homestead came in front of many friends and sponsors of the Miami-based team, including team owner Luis Bacardi.

Nick Longhi qualified the #13 Rum Bum Porsche on the pole, setting a new lap record while doing it. Unfortunately during tech inspection it turned out that the car’s rear wing was minutely outside the rules; Plumb and Longhi were relegated to last place for the start of the race. This meant that thirty-six GS-class cars stood be between the Rum Bum team and victory.

As Matt Plumb put it, “The good news is that the Speedway has a lot of passing zones—and we were blessed with a lot o f rain to start with.”

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/1WEB9790RumBumwheelupMiami2012.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-229141" title="1WEB9790RumBumwheelupMiami2012" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/1WEB9790RumBumwheelupMiami2012.jpg" alt="Nick Longhi did a masterful job of driving through the rain and through the field to get to fourth by lap 18. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)" width="470" height="261"/></a>
Nick Longhi did a masterful job of driving through the rain and through the field to get to fourth by lap 18. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)

The race started in hard rain, meaning Nick Longhi had to peer through the spray of the entire GS field—but not for long. By lap 2, Longhi had advanced to 16th; by lap 15 he was fourth.

Longhi pitted on Lap 18 under caution, and amazingly quick pit work got the Rum Bum Porsche out ahead of everyone else, with Nick Plumb at the wheel. Plumb needed only one lap to pass all the car which hadn’t pitted to take the lead of the race; in an hour and ten minutes, Longhi and Plumb had gone from last to first.

“Starting at the back at certain racetracks, it’s very difficult to pass, but this is such a fantastic racetrack—the oval is so wide,” Longhi said.

“You’re always a little bit nervous going out in the rain because something bad might happen, but it could not have been a better scenario for us. If one person makes a mistake, there people get slowed down and all of a sudden, you’re there.

“Coming into the pits and seeing those guys make that pit stop and shooting out in the lead, beating everybody else out of the pits I felt … that was fantastic.”

Next: Plumb Takes Over

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/1Web0913RumBum13Miami2012.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-229143" title="1Web0913RumBum13Miami2012" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/1Web0913RumBum13Miami2012-676x337.jpg" alt="Matt Plumb brought the #13 Rum Bum Porsche home for the win. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)" width="750" height="374"/></a>
Matt Plumb brought the #13 Rum Bum Porsche home for the win. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)

Once Plumb took over he had to stay first, and with frequent caution periods (even though the rain had stopped and the track had dried,) the competition had plenty of chances to get past. The final yellow cam with fifteen minutes left in the race, leading to a four-lap shootout for the win. Plumb made the most of every restart, including the last and won by a margin of two seconds.

Because the Rum Bum Porsche had gotten to the front so easily, Plumb explained, “I spent very little of my resources battling and trying to get by people—and that does a ton for saving your car to the end. That’s what happened—everyone else had used it up getting by each other and battling that big pack.”

This gave him the edge on the all-important restarts.

“I hadn’t used up my brakes—I hadn’t used up my tires. I had been pushing very hard but wasn’t overdoing it. At each restart I had confidence that I had a good car underneath me.

“It’s one of those things—when you have that level of talent around you, if you get passed you’re going to get passed. You just do the best you can in every corner, at every moment—if that’s not good enough and they get by you, so what? A glimpse of my crazy mindset.”

Both drivers gave all the credit to the team. “Teams win races,” said Longhi. “The people in the team win races. We switched cars and we still win races.”

Both drivers gave credit for the win to chief engineer Joe Varde, who set up the Rum Bum Porsche to perform better on the oval sections of the track, sacrificing a little performance on the tight infield sections. As Longhi explained it, “You’ve got to be good where you have an opportunity to pass.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/1Aweb1924FinalLapsMiami20121.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-229148" title="1Aweb1924FinalLapsMiami2012" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/1Aweb1924FinalLapsMiami20121.jpg" alt="The top five GS contenders battle for position in the final few laps of the race, (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)" width="470" height="248"/></a>
The top five GS contenders battle for position in the final few laps of the race, (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)

“The one place you can pass it where there’s four lanes. Joe made that call to bias the car for the oval.”

“Joe Varde has a lot of oval experience and this track—sure there’s a lot of infield corners but they’re short, burst-off-the corners, get slowed, turn up and get going,” Plumb said.“We really set our car up make that oval perfect. You make that oval perfect you’re going to work a whole lot less hard to get away from people.”

Luck played a role too, as both drivers pointed out. “These last two weekends we keep having the most incredible breaks that go our way,” Plumb said. “This weekend those breaks kept going our way.”  

Longhi agreed. “As Matt says, two weekends in a row, really good things have happened. Last weekend a lot of our main opposition got wiped out. I’m going to buy a lottery ticket.”

Next: The Rest of the Race

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/1AAWeb1014GSActionMIami2012.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-229149" title="1AAWeb1014GSActionMIami2012" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/1AAWeb1014GSActionMIami2012-676x339.jpg" alt="The top six GS contenders lap nose-to-tail, looking for any opening (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)" width="750" height="376"/></a>
The top six GS contenders lap nose-to-tail, looking for any opening (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)

Behind the Rum Bum Porsche, the fight was tough and sometimes physical (though most of the cautions were for mechanicals, not contact.) Porsche battled BMW battled Ford.

David Empringham and John Farano’s #83 BGB Motorsports Porsche Carrera came home second, followed by Andrew Aquilante and Bret Spaude in the #35 Subaru Road Racing Team Subaru WRX-STI.

Bill Auberlen (#96 Turner BMW) fought past Charles Espenlaub (#48 Fall Line BMW,) Billy Johnson (#61 Roush Mustang,) and Bryan Sellers (#46 Fall Line BMW.) Auberlen lost second to Empringham and Billy Johnston passed Espenlaub on lap 58. Sellers spun on lap lap 70.

Aquilante turned up the power in the final four laps, passing Billy Johnson for fourth on lap 78 and then pushing past Auberlen on lap 80.  

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/aWEB2041STPodiumMIami2012.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-229125" title="aWEB2041STPodiumMIami2012" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/aWEB2041STPodiumMIami2012.jpg" alt="Ryan Ellis and Martin Jensen won ST driving the #18 Insight Racing BMW 128i. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)" width="400" height="259"/></a>
Ryan Ellis and Martin Jensen won ST driving the #18 Insight Racing BMW 128i. (Chris Jasurek/The Epoch Times)