Former ALMS and 2010 Le Mans champion, Romain Dumas extended his reach last weekend, winning the Open Class and finishing second overall by just seventeen thousandths of a second in his first “Race to the Clouds” in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

The French star drove his specially prepared Porsche 911 GT3 R fitted with Michelin tires through the 156 turns to the 14,110 ft. summit in 9 minutes 46.181 seconds despite encountering rain and hail in the upper section of the course.

“We arrived here on Monday and had never run here,” said Dumas, who began rallying in 2007 and brought his own team to Pikes Peak. Three practices permit drivers to experience one stage at a time, with drivers allowed on the entire Pike’s Peak course only in the race itself.

“Even though I didn’t know the course and the car had never run on such a surface, we were always among the front runners. We knew we couldn’t rival the best Unlimited class cars, which have much more power, we weren’t that far off,” said Dumas.

“For a first participation, we couldn’t hope for more,” said Dumas. “Pikes Peak is a legendary race. This win in the Pikes Peak Open Class is the fruit of efforts that began in 2007. We really enjoyed ourselves during the week. It was a very good sporting and human adventure.”