Volkswagen goes electric to Pikes Peak with Romain Dumas

Volkswagen Motorsport announces today that it would run a fully electric race car at this year’s edition of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado, the world’s most famous hill climb race.

The goal is to set a new track record for electric race car. Except a car, Volkswagen needs an experienced drive for its record-breaking attack so the three-time Pikes Peak winner Romain Dumas had been chosen. This year’s ‘Race to the Clouds’ is scheduled for June 24.

“Romain is one of the fastest drivers to have ever entered the Pikes Peak race. What’s more, he has thousands of kilometres of experience with racing prototypes under his belt. This makes him the perfect driver for Volkswagen as it makes its debut with a fully electric racing car,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Sven Smeets.

“The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a big challenge, because every driver only has one attempt. But I have real faith in Volkswagen Motorsport. The team is highly motivated and has already shown on many occasions that it is capable of achieving success right away on unfamiliar terrain,”  explains Romain Dumas.

Romain Dumas was the Pikes Peak winner in 2014, 2016 and 2017

Volkswagen is entering the 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with a completely newly developed electric prototype. The regulations grant a high level of technical freedom in this class.

“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. 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,” says Dumas.