Romain Dumas and Ford Racing claimed overall victory at the 104th running of The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, reaching the summit of America’s Mountain in 8:18.202 with the No. 125 Super Mustang Mach-E EV demonstrator.
The result crowned Dumas “King of the Mountain” for the sixth time and delivered Ford Racing its second overall Pikes Peak victory. Dumas also won the new Unlimited – Production Based class, created for extreme competition vehicles that retain a connection to a production model.
The victory holds special significance as Ford Racing celebrates 125 years of competition. Ford entries participated in the inaugural Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1916, beginning a connection to America’s Mountain that now spans 110 years. In 2026, America’s Race Team returned to one of the country’s oldest motorsport stages and won with an electric demonstrator designed to advance the future of Ford Racing.
“This is an incredible moment for Ford Racing and the team that delivered the Super Mustang Mach-E through a long and challenging development cycle,” said Nick Kuhajda, Program Supervisor, Ford Racing Demonstrators. “Pikes Peak is unlike any circuit in the world. It requires complete focus from the technical team and tremendous bravery from the driver. Even with a perfect car, weather and track conditions can take the result out of your hands.
“After last year’s shortened race, the team returned with countless hours of track and laboratory testing behind it. I am particularly proud of our work in Ford’s new rolling road wind tunnel. With up to 12,000 pounds of downforce available, understanding aerodynamic performance and balance was critical to giving Romain confidence on the mountain. The Super Mustang Mach-E also became the highest-downforce vehicle tested in the facility, helping prepare the team for Ford Racing’s Hypercar program later this year. I am incredibly proud of the engineers, technicians and logistics teams who made this victory possible.”
“I’m really, really happy about this win. We were matching our simulation time or even possibly better, so we squeezed everything out,” said Dumas. “The car was great. Driving Pikes Peak is always a great privilege. We know how risky the race is, how dangerous the race is and how we always are playing with the limits.
Developed with STARD and supported by Pirelli, the Super Mustang Mach-E uses three STARD UHP 6-Phase motors to produce more than 1,400 horsepower across all four wheels. Its 50 kWh battery supports up to 710 kW of regenerative braking. The lessons learned are being fed directly back into Ford’s EV and hybrid development for future vehicles.
That performance must remain usable across a 12.42-mile course containing 156 turns and 4,725 feet of elevation gain before reaching the 14,115-foot summit. As the car climbs, decreasing air density reduces aerodynamic effectiveness, while changing temperatures, pavement conditions and corner speeds place immense demands on its suspension and Pirelli tires.
Ford Racing returned with the Super Mustang Mach-E that competed on a weather-shortened course in 2025, extensively refining the vehicle during the intervening year.
Engineers scanned the car and compared it with its original CAD data, measured its center of gravity and moments of inertia, and completed kinematics and compliance testing. The findings guided improvements to steering precision, roll stiffness, suspension geometry and friction within the suspension system.
The team also characterized the car’s five-way-adjustable dampers and used 7-post and 8-post rigs to reproduce wheel movement and the substantial loads generated by its aerodynamic package.
Dumas worked alongside engineers in Ford Racing’s driver-in-the-loop simulator, while virtual drivers completed thousands of simulated Pikes Peak runs to optimize the setup. Underbody pressure-tap testing helped correlate physical airflow measurements with computational fluid dynamics predictions before final track and wind-tunnel validation.
“It feels great to finish the business we started last year and show what this vehicle is truly capable of,” said Zach Burns, Program Engineer, Ford Racing Demonstrators. “This result belongs to everyone who contributed to the program, both here at the mountain and back home.
“Another year with the vehicle allowed us to understand it more deeply and fine-tune every area. Even with the repaved sections and changing track conditions, the team adapted quickly, improved the car and delivered on the targets we set.”
The Super Mustang Mach-E carried No. 125 in recognition of Ford’s 125 years of racing. Henry Ford entered competition in 1901 to prove an idea and demonstrate what his engineering could accomplish. Fifteen years later, Ford entries took part in the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
In 2026, those histories converged as Ford Racing won King of the Mountain with a purpose-built electric demonstrator created to challenge engineers, sharpen development tools and explore new possibilities for performance.
“Ford Racing is built upon dedication and talent earned through years of showing up and racing to win,” said Kuhajda. “A historic victory like today captures one of our core beliefs, expressed by Henry Ford: ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.’”
