Pikes Peak: Alpine car sets 3rd overall time

The Alpine brand is making headlines in the motorsport press today, not just because Renault’s factory F1 team was taken over by an American consortium of investors, including Hollywood stars.

This year, for the first time, the racing division of the French automaker prepared a car for the attack on Pikes Peak, where the traditional competition for climbing this mountain at high speed was held. And right on the first try, we managed to excel: the Frenchman Rafael Astier took 2nd place in the Open Class category, covering 19.93 km in 9 minutes. 17.142 seconds. This is the third time in absolute numbers, which must be recognized as a very impressive achievement.

This was facilitated by the fact that Alpine developed a special version of their sports car – the Alpine A110 Pikes Peak, equipped with a 500 hp engine and weighing only 950 kg.

In addition, the company started this project only at the end of last fall and was able to create a special version based on the racing A110 GT4 Evo in a short time, taking into account the characteristics of the upcoming test. First of all, it was necessary to develop an effective aerodynamic body kit and adapt the suspension and engine to severe mountain conditions and massive loads, and then conduct all the necessary tests.

When the Alpine car made its debut in these competitions, Rafael Astier was taking part for the fifth time and he is a very experienced driver. Together with Alpine engineers and the well-known French team Signatech, he arrived in Colorado at the end of May, and all the while they worked together to prepare the attack at altitude, check and adjust the car and conduct training. And then the day of the competition came, and how they ended, you already know.

Raphael Astier: “The race was great, the car just worked great. I gave it my all and am glad I blocked my own best performance on Pikes Peak for a few seconds. We placed 3rd overall and 2nd class in the Pikes Peak Open.

We came second to Roman Dumas and his electric car, almost three times more powerful than our car. It was not easy and we can be proud of the results Alpine showed on the first try.”