Romain Dumas and the Volkswagen-I.D. R finished first in the qualifying race of the Pikes Peak international hill climb. Dumas returned to the course after winning the climb 3 times with the Volkswagen I.D. R, behind the wheel of the fully electric racecar. He not only set an impressive time of 3mins 16.083secs but he took a massive lead of 11.049 seconds over the runner-up, Simone Faggioli, (who was driving a combustion engine). Dumas’ completion of the qualifier with the current fastest finishing time means that he will be the first one to kick off the race.
The course that was used for the qualifying race is a small portion of the final course used in the hill climb itself. While the entire course is 19.99km long, with over 150 turns in challenging terrain, the qualifier only takes place up until the 8.3km mark, before the treacherous ascent to the summit of Pikes Peak begins. However, the fact that the I.D. R is electronic, is actually an advantage, as most combustion engines will begin to lose power when approaching height (due to the lack of O2), electric cars maintain the same speed at any altitude.
Volkswagen Motorsport Director, Sven Smeets, said, “A big compliment to the entire team. We completed an important test yesterday, the findings from which have helped us to further optimize the set-up of the I.D. R Pikes Peak. The result is that the car was superbly prepared today, and the time speaks for itself. However, that was only qualifying. We are optimistic about the race, but must always bear in mind that we only have one single attempt.”
The race begins at 8 am local time (19:30 IST) , with 24 motorcycles hitting the track on 24th June, while Dumas himself is expected to race on to the track sometime around 10 am local time (21:30 IST).
Dumas himself was very happy with the car, he said, “The Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak is incredible. I have never experienced acceleration and power like that in a racing car. I am noticing how the car and I are becoming more and more of a unit with every kilometre.”
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