Volkswagen’s all-electric I.D. R hummed its way into Pikes Peak lore after smashing the International Hillclimb’s record with a time of 7:57.148, becoming the first-ever race car to complete the 12.42-mile course in under eight minutes. The record-setting run happened over the weekend, etching the car and its driver, Romain Dumas, into the Pike Peak International Hillclimb record books.

Records are meant to be broken, and after five years of holding the record at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, Sebastian Loeb and his 3.2-liter, twin-turbo, Peugeot 208 have been forced out of their thrones by Romain Dumas and the Volkswagen I.D. R racer in devastating fashion.

The 7:57.148 lap time not only earned Dumas and the I.D. R race car the distinction of being the first car and driver to finish the 12.42-mile course in under eight minutes, but it also showed how dominant the all-electric racer is. In fact, Dumas’ record-breaking lap time was faster by an incredible 15 seconds compared to Sebastian Loeb’s previous record of 8:13.878 seconds. Even more impressive, it was faster by almost 60 seconds to the previous EV record — 8:57.118 — held by Rhys Millen.

As impressive as the achievement is, Dumas also noted that the car could’ve actually gone faster. “I had some fog, and it was quite humid with some damp in the second section,” he said from the summit of Pikes Peak. “I’m happy with this, but we could have gone quicker if that middle sector had been dry.”

It’s hard to imagine being disappointed about shattering a five-year-old world record, but that’s probably part of the dominating characteristic of the Volkswagen I.D. R. Back when it was being developed, the initial goal was to break Millen’s EV record, but as the qualifying times ahead of the timed runs were taking shape, it became clear that the all-electric race car could actually threaten the overall lap record that has been held by Loeb since 2013. Volkswagen played down the growing hype about the car’s capabilities, but when it came time for the I.D. R to make its run to the summit of Pikes Peak, it flexed its true potential, and the rest, as they say, was history-making.

“I am so happy for this team and really proud of them,” Volkswagen Motorsport director Sven Smeets told Motorsport.com after the record-breaking run. “We all worked so hard for this. “And for Romain, this is incredible – don’t forget this was the first time he drove the whole course in this car. In testing, he never had a clean run from the bottom to the top.”

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak.

What You Need To Know About The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Read more Volkswagen news.