Romain Dumas took his fifth outright victory in the famous Pikes Peak hill climb aboard Ford’s F-150 Lightning SuperTruck electric demonstrator, despite briefly coming to a stop and having to restart.
Dumas explained that the failure, which required him to perform a power cycle, had never occurred before during the two-year development of the prototype and was estimated to have taken approximately 26 seconds.
But the Frenchman’s time of 8:53.553 seconds on the 19.42-mile course, which was slightly less than his 2023 climb of 8:47.682 seconds aboard Ford’s SuperVan 4.2, was still good enough to make him the fastest overall time of the 61 participants.
Dumas, who holds the outright course record of 7.57.148 seconds from 2018 in the Volkswagen ID R, admitted it was “quite stressful I must say, I think it was the most stressful yet since I’ve been here at Pikes Peak .” .
“I don’t know what happened at the start, just the car switched off completely on its own, which has never happened before,” he said on the Pikes Peak YouTube channel.
The two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner revealed that there was some confusion after the restart over whether he would be able to complete his run to the summit at 4,302 meters above sea level.
“On the radio they told me it was a red flag because I assume they saw me being stopped on the track,” he explained.
Romain Dumas, 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck
Photo by: Ford Performance
“But I had already started again, so I didn’t know whether to stop or not. There was a bit of confusion, but on the first split I know exactly what time I should have.
“I saw that I was 26 seconds compared to my determination [qualifying time] slower. So I said, ‘Okay, all I have to do is push and I’ll be fine.’ So I catch a few seconds.”
Dumas, who took his first Pikes Peak victory in 2014 before conquering the Race to the Clouds in 2016, 2017 and 2018, added: “Pikes Peak is so difficult because you have one shot, just one shot, one run. And if you have a small problem, or a big problem, you can lose everything.
“We have prepared everything perfectly. In two years this is the first time this problem has happened, I don’t know why.
“Coincidentally, I was reading all the procedures and I arrived to restart the car, so at that point I was quite happy that last night I read again what to do in the event of an accident. [an] problem!”
Co-developed by Austrian company STARD, the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck produces more than 1,600 horsepower and rides on custom Pirelli P-Zero tires.
It is the latest product of the Blue Oval strategy to develop demonstrators outside the regulations of existing electric racing championships, as the company continues to build towards its return to Formula 1 in partnership with Red Bull in 2026.
The four-pronged motorsport strategy is complemented by off-road disciplines, including the World Rally Championship and from 2025 the Dakar Rally, and its programs with Mustangs in GT3, GT4, Australian Supercars and NASCAR.
“Ford EV’s progress in taking on and completing the toughest challenges is a significant testament to the hard work and dedication our teams have put into the program,” said Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director Mark Rushbrook.
Romain Dumas, 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck
Photo by: Ford Performance
“We learned a lot from SuperVan 4.2 during last year’s Pikes Peak International hill climb and were able to apply that knowledge to this year’s run. It just keeps going from here.”
“It was no small effort to achieve this amazing feat,” said Sriram Pakkam, Formula 1 & High-Performance EV Manager at Ford Performance Motorsports.
“This was a true team effort across the board, from our super-talented aerodynamicists to our powertrain specialists.
“We also had to work as a team on the details, such as keeping the weight down and maximizing downforce. I think the team did a fantastic job.”
Meanwhile, Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Dani Sordo won the Exhibition class. The Spaniard’s also electrically powered IONIQ 5 N TA set a time of 9m30.852s.