THE ROAD TO GLORY
PPIHC QUALIFYING RESULTS AND HIGHLIGHTS
JUNE 19, 2025
Colorado Springs, CO — Qualifying and practice 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.
Day #3: Thursday, June 19
Lower Section (Qualifying): Pikes Peak Open
Middle Section: Time Attack 1, Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama, Exhibition
Upper Section: Unlimited, Open Wheel
Lower Section (Qualifying): 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, missed the cutoff to make the first run, giving Jimmy Ford the early advantage.
Of course, that didn’t last for long. Dumas would throw down a blistering 3:34.073 on the second run to regain the lead. He’d improve the time to 3:32.261 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. Jimmy Ford’s 3:59.036 on the first run would stand as second-best on the day and the only other sub-four minute time, while Loni Unser’s 4:00.864 would be good for third in the group.
JR Hildebrand’s ex-Kyle Petty NASCAR Pontiac Grand Prix 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, Hildebrand snuck in a best time of 4:08.429, although he’d revert to his second run time of 4:12.863 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,” explained 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.”
Racing a Radical SR8, Patrick Culligan looks to be one of the fastest rookies in the Pikes Peak Open field. A longtime motorcycle racer in the desert with attempts at both the Baja 1000 and Mint 400 to his name, Culligan settled into fifth in class when all was said and done.
“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.”
“The biggest thing that makes it special is, the first time we did Pikes Peak, it was truly the biggest challenge for us and probably the most exciting race that we had going on,” added Zach. “Jumping a couple of years later and seeing all of the progression that we’ve made throughout racing, it’s looking back on the memory of where we came from and where we started that makes it so special.”
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 2:36.656 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 2:38.709 came on just his second attempt at the section, and it stood until Mead’s very last attempt.
Rookie, Steve Wetterau continues to look strong in the 2025 Aston Martin Vantage GT4, as he navigates the turbo-powered GT4 through the hairpins of the the middle section, clocking a 2:43.101. Meanwhile, within the Naturally Aspirated GT4 group, first-timer Emelia Hartford shows no signs of slowing down in her 2022 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport. She managed an impressive 2:47.651 through the extremely technical and demanding corners.
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 2:31.867 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 2:33.174; close behind Faggioli was four-time King of the Mountain Robin Shute with a 2:36.020.
FAST 15 – The top 15 qualifiers, known as the OPTIMA Batteries Fast 15, are officially set. Each of these drivers and their cars will be a part of the Optima Batteries Fast 15 Alley autograph session at Friday’s Fan Fest:
This year’s Fan Fest, presented by Toyo Tires, will take place from 5-9PM in downtown Colorado Springs, and is open to the public to attend for free. Autograph signing will take place from 6-7PM.
RUN ORDER – Click here to view this year’s run order. The run order has been set as follows:
- 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.
TOMORROW ON THE MOUNTAIN:
Optional Sanctioned Practice: Friday, June 20
Lower Section: Unlimited, Open Wheel
Middle Section: Pikes Peak Open
Upper Section: Time Attack 1, Pikes Peak GT4 by Yokohama, Exhibition
by Chris Leone, PPIHC Contributor
Photos by: Larry Chen Photo, Jason Zindroski, Luis Garcia
