Ford has regained King of the Mountain honours at Colorado’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with French ace Romain Dumas piloting Ford’s Super Mustang Mach-E EV to the 2026 title.
Dumas and his electric Mustang bettered last year’s second place at America’s Mountain course, and added to his EV triumphs in 2024 driving Ford’s F-150 Lightning Super Truck, and 2018 at the wheel of Volkswagen’s I.D. R.
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Dumas’ winning time up the 19.99km, 156-turn, 1440-metre Colorado climb was 8:18.202, some 11 seconds faster than Robin Shute’s petrol-powered Sendycar V1 with 2.3-litre Synergy turbocharged V8 made from two BMW motorcycle engines.
The Pikes Peak course record remains 7:57.148, set by Dumas in the electric Volkswagen.
Ford’s Super Mustang Mach-E was the sole EV to take the 2026 start line come race day.
Evasive Motorsports’ Hyundai IONIQ 5 N – which looked superb with massive aero enhancements, huge 11×19-inch wheels, coilover suspension but stock electric motors – ended off course and on the rocks after a practice crash.
As well as taking overall honours this year, Dumas and the Mach-E won the new Unlimited – Production Based class, created for extreme competition vehicles that retain a connection to a production model.
“Connection” seems fairly loose in this instance.
A showroom top-spec twin-motor Ford Mustang Mach-E GT offers 434kW and 955Nm. The Pikes Peak Super Mustang Mach-E uses three STARD UHP 6-Phase motors, offering 1044kW across all four wheels. Its 50 kWh battery allows up to 710kW of regenerative braking.
The car’s mad aero supplies up to 5440kg (!) of downforce, there’s a custom carbon braking system and custom forged magnesium wheels wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero rubber.
None, sadly, are offered as genuine accessories for your road-going Mach-E.
It’s no secret Pikes Peak traditionalists rarely embrace EVs competing at this hill climb event. The Colorado classic was first run in 1916, and electric cars have proved as revolutionary here as paving over the course’s gravel with bitumen.
Regardless, of the 71 cars taking the start line in 2026, the rapid Ford was the sole battery-powered competitor. And it beat the lot.
Electric vehicles have a huge advantage at high elevations (Pikes Peak’s summit is at a nosebleed-inducing 4302m) as they offer consistent and reliable power.
Combustion engines, meanwhile, have lost an estimated 40 per cent of their performance by the top of Pikes Peak as the amount of oxygen needed for the suck, squeeze, bang, blow is reduced at such altitudes.
The thinning air doesn’t affect EVs: they retain 100 per cent of their power no matter the elevation as they’re not breathing in oxygen.
An EV’s instant torque and no gear shifts also prove ideal for hill climb racing and its numerous tight turns.
Question for we Aussies, will Ford bring its Pikes Peak Mach-E champ to Bathurst?
In 2024, Romain Dumas piloted the Pikes Peak-competing electric Ford Supervan 4.2 around Mount Panorama in 1:56.3247: eight-seconds faster than Brodie Kostecki’s pole lap at the 2025 Bathurst 1000.
Dumas’ time remains the fastest ever recorded on the Mountain for a tin-top vehicle.
