Ford and Romain Dumas Dominate Pikes Peak with the Super Mustang Mach-E

Romain Dumas just made the EV haters’ job a hell of a lot harder. The legendary hill-climb driver piloted Ford‘s Super Mustang Mach-E to victory at the 2025 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday, crossing the 156-turn mountain in 8:18.202—his sixth win at the event and Ford’s second consecutive overall victory in as many years.

For context, that’s dominant. Dumas beat second-place finisher Robin Shute’s ‘SendyCar’ by over 11 seconds and dethroned reigning champ Simone Faggioli, whose Nova Proto suffered a technical failure partway up the climb. This wasn’t some one-off publicity stunt either—it’s part of a larger trend where Ford Racing has figured out the EV mountain-racing formula, having won the overall in 2024 with the electric F-150 Lightning SuperTruck.

The Electric Domination Continues

Here’s what makes this noteworthy: Dumas qualified first in his class and third overall, but the Mach-E itself is based on Ford’s production platform—not some hand-built prototype. That means the vehicle that beat everything else on Sunday is theoretically closer to something you could buy with a significant check than most of its competitors.

Of course, there’s a caveat. Dumas’s time is still far removed from the absolute record, which he set himself back in 2018 driving the all-electric Volkswagen ID.R. That run clocked 7:57:148—nearly 21 seconds faster. No driver has broken the eight-minute barrier on the full course since, which tells you something about how difficult it is to push these machines even harder than Dumas just did.

The gap between his ID.R record and this Mach-E victory shows the arc of EV performance development. Volkswagen’s purpose-built hill-climb special is still quicker, but a production-based Mach-E getting close enough to beat everything else on the mountain? That’s the story Ford wants you to focus on.

The Outsiders Making Moves

While Ford and Dumas grabbed headlines, other manufacturers were also making statements. Robin Shute’s second-place ‘SendyCar’ result was described as a promising debut—the custom build proved it belongs in the conversation, and Shute’s team plans to trim weight for future attempts. That’s the kind of iterative progress you see when serious players show up to Pikes Peak.

Acura took a different approach, using the climb as a marketing lap. Formula Drift champion Dan Yoshihara pushed the 2023 Acura Integra Type-S to 10:33.174, beating Acura’s own FWD record by over 15 seconds. The previous record, coincidentally, was also set in 2018. Yoshihara finished sixth in Time Attack 1, which is respectable for a production-based front-driver hauling up a mountain with less power and grip than the open-class machines.

Meanwhile, JR Hildebrand finally got his moment with the 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X after the program wasn’t ready for last year’s event. The mid-engine monster took the Time Attack 1 category with a 9:30.104 run, proving that when Chevy gets serious about something, it tends to deliver. Last year Hildebrand improvised with a 1999 NASCAR stock car—this year he brought the real weapon.

The Broader Picture

What’s fascinating about Ford’s back-to-back wins is the diversification. An electric pickup truck one year, an electric performance SUV the next. The message is clear: Ford Racing isn’t treating EVs as a novelty category anymore. They’re weaponizing them.

The 8:18 time from Dumas in the Mach-E might not be breaking records, but it’s proving something the EV skeptics have been slow to admit—electric powertrains excel at the kind of sustained, high-output driving that Pikes Peak demands. No transmission lag, no turbo spool-up, instant torque delivery. On a mountain where every tenth of a second matters, those advantages compound.

Dan Novembre won the open-wheel category in a 2013 Wolf GB08S TC Special with a 9:01.689, but even that traditional motorsports dominance looks a little less invincible when a production-based EV is finishing less than a minute behind overall. Faggioli’s third-place finish in the Nova Proto would’ve been higher without his technical issue, but issues happen—and in hill climbing, they usually mean you’re pushing harder than the other guy.

What’s Next for the Mountain

Shute’s SendyCar improvements and Hildebrand’s Corvette debut suggest Pikes Peak 2026 could be even more interesting. Dumas won’t be defending his title forever, and the field is clearly tightening as manufacturers figure out how to extract maximum performance from modern platforms.

The real takeaway? Pikes Peak used to be dominated by exotic prototypes and hand-built specials. Now, EVs based on production platforms are winning overall. That’s not hype—that’s capability you can measure in tenths of a second and watch climb a mountain. Ford got there first, and they’re making it look easy.

Sources: Road & Track