Robin Shute becomes first Briton to win Pikes Peak

Former British GT racer Robin Shute achieved his ambition of becoming the first Briton to win the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in the US on Sunday, although his achievement was overshadowed by the death of a motorcyclist.

Shute, who lives in California, entered his own Honda-powered Wolf GB08 sports racer for the second consecutive year and had set a target for the 12.42-mile Colorado mountain road to become the first British driver to win at the event, which was first held in 1916.

As in 2018, bad weather affected the climb, but unlike last year, Shute was able to complete his run before it did so. His time of 9m12.476sec was well clear of the next best and fastest GT entrant, Raphael Astier in a modified Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, who managed a run of 9m23.721sec.

“We did it, we took the top spot!” Shute told Autocar on Monday. “We had a tough week leading up to the event, with various medium-sized problems each day keeping us busy. Friday we actually seized an engine. 

“This put us on the back foot and I unfortunately ended up dealing with a large misfire for the race run on Sunday.”

Shute, who is originally from Norfolk and is the son of long-time Lotus employee Tony Shute, had been targeting a run below the 8min 30sec mark, but was satisfied with his effort in the circumstances. “I was very happy to get to the top of the hill and pleased with the time, considering the issue,” he said. “It wasn't the time we were looking for, but it was enough to seal the win.”

His Wolf, which is powered by a 2.0-litre, turbocharged HPD Honda Racing engine, was never going to get close to the all-time record of 7min 57.1sec set last year by Romain Dumas in Volkswagen’s electric-powered ID R special. But Shute did at least match Dumas’s Pikes Peak speed from the Le Mans winner’s previous efforts in more conventional machinery.