Fresh off of his victory a week ago at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, French driver Romain Dumas won the 2016 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb by six seconds over defending champion Rhys Millen.
Dumas drove his Norma M20 RD in the Unlimited class to the second fastest time ever recorded at the event – 8:51.445. It was his second Pikes Peak victory, having won in 2014, and he becomes the first French driver to have two overall victories. He’s also the first driver to win Le Mans and Pikes Peak in the same season.
Millen, again driving an electric prototype in the Electric Modified class, improved on his 2015 winning time by 10 seconds, but it wasn’t enough to sit on top of the podium, although he did win the Electric Modified class.
In fact, three out of the top five finishers were all Electric Modified entries. The Acura four-motor prototype wearing NSX clothes took third with Japanese driver Tetsuya Yamano behind the wheel. Nobuhiro Tajima took fifth in a Tajima Rimac.
Speaking of the NSX, Nick Robinson took the production Acura NSX to a victory in the Time Attack 2 Production class in its first time at the hill climb with a time of 10:28.820. The second NSX driven by James Robinson in the Time Attack 1 class didn’t fare as well, placing all the way down in 75th place and 13th in class.
Check out the live timing website for the complete final standings.
Driver Blake Fuller and his ludicrous Tesla Model S racer finished in 65th place with a time of 11:48.264, but won the one-car Electric Production class. He fulfilled his goal of beating the best time for a production electric vehicle.
Check out this TFLcar video of the three Acura NSX racers that participated in this year’s hill climb:
