A few months ago, Volkswagen announced its intention to enter an all-electric racing car in the infamous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The goal will be to set a new EV record at the event this year. What it didn’t announce was who would actually drive the thing, but now it has.
Handling the wheel will be none other than Romain Dumas – a multi-talented and highly accomplished racing driver, whose name you may recognize for having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 for Porsche. But that was just his most recent achievement.
He won the FIA World Endurance Championship that same year, and took over victory at Le Mans once before, with Audi in 2010. He’s also won the Nürburgring 24-hour race four times, the 24 Hours of Spa twice, and the 12 Hours of Sebring once.
More pertinently, though, he’s won the Pikes Peak climb three times, all within the last four years. That gives him very real experience to impart on the campaign that will bring Volkswagen back to the Colorado mountain for the first time in over 30 years.
“There is one big advantage of having an electric car in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb: the power remains constant over the entire 20-kilometre route,” Dumas points out. “By contrast, vehicles fitted with combustion engines lose a significant amount of power in the thin mountain air. I had to live with that in my previous appearances here. I am really looking forward to being able to drive from the start at 2,862 metres to the finishing line at full power for the first time.”
Video
https://youtu.be/sDjeFrl_xn4