The 95th running of the historic Pikes Peak International Hill Climb took place last weekend. While Sebastien Loeb’s stunning 8:13.878 record stands for another year, the competition was nonetheless impressive.
The overall victory went to Romain Dumas. Dumas successfully defended the title after winning last year, making him the first driver to do so since Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima. It also marks the third overall win in four years for the Frenchman.
Dumas ran a 9:05.672 in his modified Norma MXX RD Limited. Due to a spark plug issue, the run was some way shy of his sub-nine-minute run from last year. Nevertheless, Dumas pulled a serious gap on second place; Peter Cunningham of RealTime Racing clocked in at 9:33.797 with his old PWC steed, the Acura TLX-GT. It was an impressive Pikes Peak debut for the veteran racer.
Dumas had this to say of his win:
“It’s difficult to put words to this victory. The primary objective was to win, which is what we did and it’s never easy here. Never. I even questioned whether I’d get to the summit…The second objective was to get closer to the outright record. After the practice days, we had a decent idea of what kind of overall time was possible. But unfortunately, this will remain a hypothetical time after the broken spark plugs, and that’s disappointing. We got first place but we wanted so much more that I’m unable to feel completely satisfied today.”
If you’re looking to tackle the Race to the Clouds in video game form, both DiRT Rally and Sebastien Loeb Rally EVO feature the full monty. Earlier this year, DiRT 4’s developer confirmed the license had become the exclusive domain of the Gran Turismo series, but there has been no hint of the Colorado classic in Gran Turismo Sport yet.
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