Grand-Am Championship Weekend at Lime Rock Park Race Recap 2012

wdmp_120928_1796 — Green! Green! Green! The 26-car field roars down the front straight with Nick Longhi in the #13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche leading the way to turn one. Because of Lime Rock’s short length (only 1.53 miles), the GS and ST classes had separate sessions and races.

At 1.52 miles, Lime Rock Park in Northwestern Connecticut is short in length, but long on drama—a fitting place for the 2012 season finale of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge! Heading into the September 30 race weekend, the team and driver’s titles were virtually tied between the Porsche teams of BGB Motorsports and Rum Bum Racing.

Usually a single-car team, Rum Bum Racing dusted off their BMW M3 to serve as a back-up to the team’s #13 Porsche driven by Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi. Piloting the M3 would be 2012 Rolex GT series champion Jeff Segal and Roush Performance driver Billy Johonson. Followers of the series will recall that Jack Roush Jr. crashed the #61 Mustang Boss 302R at the previous race, freeing up co-driver Johnson to drive Rum Bum Racing’s #3 BMW for the last race of the season at Lime Rock Park.

wdmp_120928_1159 — The Capaldi Racing Mustang Boss 302R crests the “Uphill” section at Lime Rock. Since qualifying was rained out, the grid was set according to points, and thus the #68 started the race 23rd.

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The #78 Mustang hit the wall after losing traction after cresting the “Uphill” at Lime Rock during the rainy Friday afternoon practice session. The crew was able to repair the damage in time for Saturday’s race. Michael Lavigne and Rich Jones brought their Jomac Racing Mustang FR500C home 19th. The #78 Racer’s Edge Motorsports Mustang Boss 302R shared by Justin Piscitell and Roberto Dal Pont finished the best of the Mustangs at Lime Rock in 13th position.

With Jack Roush Jr.’s arm still recovering from his crash at Laguna Seca, Roush Performance brought their remaining two Mustang Boss 302’s to Lime Rock. Four additional Mustangs (including Jomac’s FR500C) rounded out “team Mustang” for the season finale.

In Friday morning’s first practice session, Billy Johnson and Jeff Segal proved that Rum Bum Racing’s BMW M3 was still competitive by setting the quickest practice lap on a cool, drying track. However, rain drenched the afternoon’s practice and qualifying sessions in accordance of Grand-Am’s policy to not hold qualifying in the rain to avoid wrecking cars. Thus, series points set the grid for Saturday morning’s race, with BGB Motorsports’s #83 Porsche on pole, and Rum Bum Racing’s #13 Porsche starting second.

With the top two series contenders starting 1-2 on the grid, the race and championship fight was to be intense. In order to take the driver’s title, Rum Bum’s Matt Plum would need to win, and BGB Motorsports’s David Epringham and John Farano needed to finish no better than fourth. “Having to win” in arguably the most competitive road racing series is a tall order!

wdmp_120928_0366 — The diversity in Grand-Am’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is a sports car lover’s dream. Here Dempsey Racing’s Mustang Boss 302R leads the Rum Bum Racing Porsche and the Multimatic Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage to turn five on Friday morning.

At the drop of the green flag, the 26-car GS-class cars thundered down the straight to turn one. Rum Bum Racing’s starting driver, Nick Longhi, got a great start and took the lead as John Farano (#83 Porsche) dropped to third.

A caution at the 30-minute mark allowed the leaders to pit and starting drivers to acquire points. After the pit stops cycled through, Matt Plumb, who took over driving duties of the #13 Porsche from Nick Longhi, was leading. Unbelievably, with one hour remaining, David Epringham (now driving the #83 BGB Motorsports Porsche) was in second behind Plumb, and in position to win the championship. Plumb was helpless unless Epringham started slipping back and losing positions.

With twenty minutes to go in the race, Epringham lost second to Bryan Sellers (#46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3), with John Edwards (#9 Camaro) breathing down Epringham’s neck. If Epringham lost third osition to Edwards, Epringham and co-driver Farano would’ve been tied with Plumb, with the tie-breaker going to Plumb due to more victories.

With three laps to go, Epringham couldn’t hold off Edwards any longer, and the two went side-by-side through the first three turns, and then both cars went off the track! Epringham emerged ahead of Edwards, but Scott Maxwell slipped past both to grab third place, securing the driver’s championship lead for Plumb as the field took the checkered flag.

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Roger Miller and Ian James had a rough time in the Dempsey Racing #158 Mustang at Lime Rock. Miller put the car into the wall at turn four early in the race, but the crew repaired the car and James finished the race 11 laps down in 21st position. Shelby Blackstock crests the “Uphill” at Lime Rock with an hour to go in the race. He and co-driver Joey Atterbury led 8 laps due their pit stop strategy, but finished 17th, three laps down.

Or so it was thought. After all the celebrations and interviews, Grand-Am officials stripped Matt Plumb of his points on a rule technicality. Plumb was entered to drive both the team’s #3 BMW and the #13 Porsche in which he won the race. When a driver is entered to drive two cars, the driver can only acquire points in the car in which the driver starts. Since Plumb didn’t start the race in either the #3 or #13, he was not awarded any points, and thus lost the driver’s championship to BGB Motorsports drivers John Farano and David Epringham. Bazaar, indeed!

As a consolation, Rum Bum Racing retained the “team” championship, since their #13 Porsche still won the race, regardless of who was behind the wheel. Porsche also won the manufacturer’s championship.

With its endless twists and turns, the 2012 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season was one for the history books. Looking ahead to 2013, Daytona will once again kick off the season in January. Mustangs have always been strong at Daytona…