Haul of the mountain king

A spate of big accidents marred the first Pikes Peak hillclimb to take place on a full-asphalt course this summer.

Jeremy Foley and co-driver Yuri Kouznetsov survived a terrifying plunge down the Colorado mountain, while a six-yearold girl sustained minor injuries in a separate incident. The increase in accidents was not just down to the faster track surface, according to some of the racers, but also the lack of available practice time.

Rhys Millen — in the Time Attack class — set a new record of 9min 46.164sec on the hard surface on his way to victory in a Hyundai Genesis. This was only 0.017 seconds faster than 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Romain Dumas achieved in the Pikes Peak Open class aboard a Porsche GR3R. Last year’s record stood at 9min 51.278sec, a time posted by King of the Mountain Nobuhiro Tajima in a Suzuki 5X4.