Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck wins Pikes Peak 2024

But 20 km record still stands

The Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck and its massive rear wing have successfully made it to the top of the world’s most famous hill climb. Literally, and figuratively.

Romain Dumas and Ford Performance have dominated this year’s edition of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, clocking in a time of 8:53.553 in the 20 km long course. The SuperTruck was the fastest of all 61 competitors, finishing more than 10 seconds faster ahead of Christian Merli and the second-placed Wolf GB08. Meanwhile, WRC driver Dani Sordo gave the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA a podium finish by completing the course with a time of 9:30.852.

The Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck has a tri-motor powertrain that produces 1,622 PS. Its bodywork, highlighted by its huge rear wing and front air dam was designed to generate up to 2,722 kg of downforce at 240 km/h. The SuperTruck is also equipped with Sparco racing harnesses and safety equipment while the bespoke Pirelli P-Zero tires ensured its stability on the challenging mountain roads.

However, it wasn’t as smooth sailing as Ford wanted it to be. While they still claimed the top spot, the SuperTruck was slower than last year’s SuperVan 4.2 which posted a time of 8:47.682. That is because, in the middle of the run, the SuperTruck suffered a technical issue and had to come to a complete stop. Fortunately, Dumas was able to reset the truck and complete the run up the mountain. But by then, he had already lost about 26 seconds.

Prior to the main event, Ford Performance had already smashed the qualifying record for the Open Class as the SuperTruck set a time of 3:32.831, some 7 seconds faster than the SuperVan 4.2.

Ford Performance says the SuperTruck’s Pikes Peak win is only the beginning, as it will still appear at other events in the future.