Pikes Peak run order set as qualifying concludes

Qualifying for the 103rd Running of the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, presented by Gran Turismo wrapped up on Thursday. All six divisions have now seen each section of the mountain once and had their chance to set qualifying times heading into Sunday’s race day.

LOWER SECTION

As Pikes Peak Open finally got its chance to post qualifying times and finalize this year’s Fast 15, the day was filled with drama. Multiple competitors in the largest division of the year would have to abort runs during the day, while the presumptive favorite – all-time PPIHC record holder Romain Dumas, in the Super Mustang Mach-E EV (pictured above) – missed the cutoff to make the first run, giving Mustang driver Jimmy Ford the early advantage.

Of course, that didn’t last for long. Dumas threw down a blistering 3m34.073s on the second run to regain the lead. He’d improve the time to 3m32.261s to post the best time across all three days on his final attempt, but it wouldn’t count officially as the third run was only partially completed. Ford’s 3m59.036s on the first run would stand as second-best on the day and the only other sub-four minute time, while Loni Unser’s 4m00.864s in her Porsche 911 Turbo Cup would be good for third in the group.

JR Hildebrand’s ex-Kyle Petty NASCAR Pontiac Grand Prix (pictured below) has been one of the most popular cars on the mountain this year, and its speed has matched the hype. As the very last car to make the third run, the former IndyCar racer put in a best time of 4m08.429s, although he’d revert to his second run time of 4m12.863s under qualifying rules.

“You never know with these things – you have an idea in your head, like ‘I think people will dig this,’ and for me it seemed so cool from the beginning to be able to go and do it,” said Hildebrand. “It’s been awesome for that to be reflected in the social media uproar. I got a phone call from Kyle, and he was like, ‘Oh my god, send me those pictures!’ Kurt Busch called me the other day – it’s definitely been cool.

“I was just so glad today to finally get the car running right, just in time for qualifying. We’re still figuring a few things out, but it feels more like we’re in fine-tuning mode. We had done a rear gearing change overnight, so the first run was a little easy just to break that in. The second run was still on old tires, but I had the gearing strategy dialed in my head, and we threw stickers on it and picked off another four or five seconds on the last run.”

“We’re definitely still trying to figure out the car,” Culligan admitted. “We rebuilt the engine harness and obviously, being a rookie, we have to learn from scratch. The transmission has been a big learning curve with the sequential management, and far more important I think is the understanding of the tires and the logistics of getting and keeping them at temperature. That’s all part of the steeper rookie learning curve.

“We have an incredible team – they’re all volunteers, you just can’t hire help like that! They’re all super invested. The whole thing is challenging enough that we just want to maximize our efforts and do the best we can to get a respectable time and something we’re all proud of.”

One of three father-son duos taking on the mountain this year, Craig and Zach Lumdsen return to Pikes Peak for the third time in 2025 after also racing iconic events like the Baja 1000 and Dakar Rally. While pushing the limits in globally renowned races is nothing new to the Lumsdens, it’s no surprise that a team named Colorado Motorsport would have a special affinity for Pikes Peak.

“Pikes Peak is just a great race,” said Craig. “It’s a race that I really love because my favorite type of racing is more on the track side, where I get a lot of flow. We usually end up having a lot of friends and family come out, and we have them here for the week or weekend and just have a lot of fun.”

MIDDLE SECTION

Time Attack 1, Exhibition, and the Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama completed their race week rotation by visiting the middle section of the mountain for practice. While Robb Holland posted the fastest qualifying time on Wednesday, Thursday was Kathryn Mead’s turn to pace the standings, as she laid down a 2m36.656s in her 2019 Porsche GT2RS Clubsport on the last run of the day.

As was the case over the past two days, Robert Walker and Evasive Motorsports would post the fastest time across all three divisions earlier in the day and stand on it as another competitor bested it later. Walker’s 2m38.709s came on just his second attempt at the section in his Porsche GT3 Cup, and it stood until Mead’s very last attempt.

Pacing the Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama for the third day in a row was BBi Autosport rookie Steve Wetterau. His 2025 Aston Martin Vantage GT4, the first Aston Martin to ever compete at Pikes Peak, posted a 2:43.101 to lead the class by more than four seconds and place seventh among all middle section runners.

UPPER SECTION

The Unlimited and Open Wheel divisions finally got their first crack at the top of the mountain, and it provided Colorado Springs’ own Dan Novembre a chance to shine. Novembre didn’t just lead the Open Wheel division, he also topped both groups overall with a 2m31.867s on the final run.

That pace was fast enough to come in ahead of not only the Unlimited leaders, but also two of the fastest drivers the mountain has ever seen.

Leading the Unlimited racers once again was Simone Faggioli, one of just five drivers to ever finish with a time of under nine minutes, with a 2m33.174s; close behind Faggioli was four-time King of the Mountain Robin Shute with a 2m36.020s.

RUN ORDER

CLICK HERE to view the race day run order.

The Exhibition Division will run first, slowest to fastest, based upon qualifying times.

The Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama Division will run next, slowest to fastest, based upon qualifying times.

The remaining four divisions will each run the top three qualifiers (3,2,1) in sequence. Division order will be based on the top qualifier's time in each division.

The remaining competitors will run fastest to slowest based upon qualifying times. These cars will not run in any specific division order.

You can watch the 2025 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, presented by Gran Turismo, live and in its entirety on the RACER Network and RACER+ streaming app, Sunday, June 22. For more on RACER+, head to racerplus.com.