TFLcar tester and Honda powered IndyCar racer Justin Wilson’s first attempt at conquering the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb has come to a premature end.
Wilson’s Honda-powered LMP2 race car suffered two separate mechanical failures during the week and won’t be available for the race on Sunday, June 28.
The attempt would have been Wilson’s first time racing on the 12.42 mile, 156-turn course up to the top of Pikes Peak, 14,110 feet above sea level.
The car he would have driven is an HPD ARX-04b LMP2 coupe that ran the 24 Hours of Daytona. It’s powered by a 3.5-liter, production-based V-6 sporting twin turbochargers and making in excess of 500 horsepower.
The run was an exploratory effort for Honda, who were looking to learn how the LMP2 race car would handle the course for a potential assault on the record time of 8:13.878, which was set by Sebastien Loeb in 2013.
TFLcar team is sad to see this turn of events, but it demonstrates just how challenging and demanding this race really is on both people and machinery.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb takes place on June 28 and is a world-renowned sporting event that features 156 corners and harrowing exposure to shear dropoffs with no safety guardrails before reaching the summit. The ‘Race to the Clouds’ dates back to 1916, making it the second-oldest motorsport event in the U.S. behind the Indy 500.
Live timing and scoring of this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is available online. In addition, the TFLcar team will be covering the entire event so stay tuned for more race coverage!
Earlier this week, Wilson drove his personal Acura MDX up the mountain for the first time, taking TFLcar’s Emme Hall along for the ride. Check out the video of his first time at Pikes Peak here:
