Pikes Peak – Romain Dumas: “Difficult to put into words”

At the wheel of his Norma MXX RD Limited, Romain Dumas had two clear ambitions when arriving in Colorado: to win the race, and to beat his personal best set last year in 8'51''445. If the first objective was fulfilled, the second was compromised from the start due to a mechanical breakdown.

« It's difficult to put this victory into words, he confided after the race. The first objective was to win. That’s the case and it’s never easy here. Never. I even wondered if I was going to make it to the top...

« The second objective was to get closer to the record. After the tests, we had a small idea of ​​the achievable time. We were ready to fight and we had our chance. Unfortunately, this remains hypothetical given this broken spark plug and it is disappointing. We have first place but we wanted so much more that I can't be fulfilled. »

For this 95^e edition of the Pikes Peak climb, Romain Dumas set a time of 9'05''672, 14 seconds slower than his personal best and more than 50 seconds slower than the absolute record established by Sébastien Loeb in 2013.

« The time must not make us forget the work that has been done upstream. With Norma and all the members of RD Limited, we had never prepared for the race like this and we had given ourselves the means to achieve our ambitions. I am proud of the guys and I thank all the partners and all the people who believed in us and who made this project possible. »

Discover the report of the 95th edition of Pikes Peak in issue 2120 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.