Honda claims overall win, production electric vehicle record at Pikes Peak

Romain Dumas raced to the overall win at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

The 2014 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb resulted in two more Pikes Peak titles for Honda, as four Honda drivers and riders earned top-five class finishes in Sunday's 12.42-mile trek up the mountain.
The Honda effort was highlighted by Romain Dumas, who scored his first overall Pikes Peak title. Roy Richards also came up big in his Honda Fit EV, winning the Electric Production class with a record run of 12 minutes, 55.591 seconds.

"After [finishing 2nd in] 2012, the target was to win one," Dumas said. "This year, we did a perfect job, the [Honda engine] was running good and we prepared how we should. I knew I was running smoothly, so I didn't want to take any risks. It was a clear run. It was not incredible, but it was enough to win and that was the target anyway. We are very happy, and this is a big win for the team.'

This year marked the 13th consecutive year that a Honda-powered vehicle has won at least one class in the Pikes Peak event.

"I am very pleased with the Fit EV's performance this year," Richards said. "We knew from last year's practice times that the Fit EV had a shot at the record, but weather spoiled our run. Building on the knowledge gained from last year, our team refined the suspension settings and did additional weight reduction. The results were better than we expected with a new record for the production EV class."

Associates from American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda Performance Development (HPD), Honda North America and Honda R&D combined to field six vehicles for Honda associates in this year's race. With five of the six Honda drivers having previously competed at Pikes Peak, each of the six vehicles made successful runs to the 14,115-foot Pikes Peak summit.

Honda provided power for Dumas in his own Norma RD Limited prototype chassis entry in the Unlimited class. Starting first, Dumas pushed his Honda powerplant to a race-winning time of 9:05.801 to claim his first race win and the first overall Pikes Peak victory for a Honda-powered car.

James Robinson posted the fastest time of the six Honda associate-driven vehicles in his Acura Pikes Peak NSX, finishing sixth in the Open Class with a time of 11:09.134. Zach Jacobs rode his Honda CBR600RR throughout the course's 156 turns in 11:11.885 to place fifth in the Middleweight motorcycle class, while Sage Marie's effort of 11:59.095 in his Honda S2000 was good for fourth in the Time Attack 2 class.

Keith Steidl placed sixth in the quad class with a time of 12:31.245, while the only rookie in the 2014 class, Corey Taguchi, placed fourth in the Exhibition standings after posting a time of 14:26.438 in his Honda Fit.

Source;
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140702/motorsports/140709977