Colorado Springs, Colorado. Champion Porsche returned to the top of the motorsport mountain on June 27, earning Porsche its 30th lifetime manufacturer’s title at Sunday’s 99th Running of the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb brought to you Gran Turismo. Piloted by Porsche Factory Driver Romain Dumas (France), the No. 38 Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport earned top-honors in the Time Attack 1 Division at a shortened “Race to the Clouds."
Dumas’s time of six-minutes, 31.914-seconds will not count toward the record books as weather forced a shortening of the full race course up Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Veteran Porsche Pikes Peak ace Raphael Astier (France) provided division title No. 31 taking the Pikes Peak Open win in a BBi Autosport-modified Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car with a time of 6:36.867 – fifth-place overall. Race, rally and stunt driver Tanner Foust (Newport Beach, California) gifted the German sports car manufacturer its 32nd division win by setting a record-pace time of 7:28.269 in the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama. The one-make division uses only the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport for all competitors.
Champion Racing and Romain Dumas
With temperatures near freezing, along with snow and fog, at the traditional finish line at 14,115-feet altitude, Pikes Peak race organizers opted to move the final timing beacons to the end of the middle sector of the full race course. This placed the end just prior to the “Devil’s Playground” at approximately 12,650-feet. This changed strategies and allowed both Dumas and David Donohue (West Chester, Pennsylvania) in the BBi Autosport-prepared Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport to take full advantage of their strengths. While Dumas would go early in the day driving the familiar Champion Motorsport livery earning the division win and second-place overall, Donohue – a sports car racing champion and Rolex 24 at Daytona class winner in a Porsche – would make his run late in the day. He would take third-place in the Time Attack 1 class in the No. 911 with a time of 6:45.893 placing two of the 700+ Hp, twin-turbocharged rear-engine Porsche-built race cars in the top-three in the division.
Tanner Foust - Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport
The Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama one-make division was down to four entries come race morning following a practice incident which eliminated local favorite George Hess (Colorado Springs, Colorado). However, Foust, making his first appearance in the division found a perfect connection to the mid-engine Porsche 718 Cayman road car-based machine. With intense preparation by BBi Autosport and Porsche Colorado Springs, the local Porsche dealer, Foust led the division since a test session earlier this month. Chasing the popular TV personality was Cam Ingram (Durham, North Carolina) who was living his dream by taking his Road Scholars Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport racer up the Mountain for the first time. His impressive time of 7:49.515 placed him second in the division, ten-seconds up on 2020 Rookie of the Year Kathryn Mead (Austin, Texas). Charles “Chas” Wirken (Mesa, Arizona) finished in fourth-place ( 8:40.976).
The first Pikes Peak Hill Climb was run in 1916 on a gravel circuit carved up to the Mountain’s summit. By 2012, the full 12.42-mile, 156-turn circuit was paved over, up to the 14,115-foot pinnacle. The race itself starts at the seven-mile marker giving competitors a 4,725-foot elevation change during their timed run.
More information and results can be found at: ppihc.org/ .
Raphael Astier - Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Turbo Cup
Comments after the race
Erik Skirmants, Event Manager, Pikes Peak, Porsche Motorsport North America.
“This year Pikes Peak was all about overcoming challenges. Challenges for the drivers, the teams, the organizers and for us at Porsche. While we can never know what might have been had we run the full course, I don’t think you would have seen things play out much differently. Romain, Raphael and Tanner did exceptional jobs adapting and putting themselves in the right place for victory. Congratulations to them as well as Champion Porsche, BBi Autosport and Porsche Colorado Springs. Our special thanks to everyone at Yokohama for providing tires than can deal with these extreme conditions. Additionally, I would like to highlight the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb organization for the professional approach they took to race day. Those are not easy decisions, but they were the right ones. We look forward to returning for the 100th running in 2022 with our Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama and the very best privateer Porsche hill climb efforts in the world.”
