Dumas Wins Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Photo: James Holland

One week after his overall win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Romain Dumas scored victory in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, becoming a two-time winner of the legendary event.

The Frenchman took a Norma M20 RD Limited Spec-2016 prototype to a 8:51.445 time up the famed mountain on Sunday, having posted the second-fastest time in event history.

Dumas becomes the first driver to have earned victories at Le Mans and Pikes Peak in the same year.

“It’s incredible. To win the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Pikes Peak within days, it’s beyond my dreams,” Dumas said. “I don’t know if it’s sunk in yet.

“The win was the objective from the word go, but it wasn’t an easy challenge. There were expectations because we had to better our performance from two years ago, and we knew the electric prototypes would be quick and our car was still new.

“We wanted to show our level of performance. We didn’t quite do that, to be honest, with a pierced hose and small issues with the brakes near the end of the run. But we won after all and that’s the main thing and I’m very happy.”

Dumas edged out a number of other top-level prototypes for the victory, including an electric prototype defending winner Rys Millen.

The victory came with his own team, having also fielded a second car for Raphael Astier, who finished as top rookie in 10th overall.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John