Monsieur 100,000 horsepower

Monsieur 100,000 horsepower

If only there were 25 hours in a day. Then Romain Dumas could take on one or two more projects. The thoroughbred racing driver from Alès in the south of France is restlessness personified. There have been years in which he warmed up by entering the Dakar Rally in January before racing the entire season in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) for the Porsche works team, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans while he was at it, squeezing in a couple of rallies – including, of course, rounds of the World Championship – and also celebrating overall victory in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Driven by enthusiasm and ambition

‘Endurance races are my career. Hill climbs and rallies are my hobbies. Both are passions,' says Dumas, downplaying it all somewhat. After all, by no means does he himself only compete in rallies or race to the summit of Pikes Peak. In the hands of customers, his team's racing cars very often secure class victories. ‘I initially hired cars for my private use and it frequently went belly-up, but I know that I can rely one hundred per cent on my own people,' says Dumas, recalling the initial spark for forming his own team. In addition, he has known most of his dozen or so team members since his school days.

The challenge of endurance: untiring teamwork

The real strength of the well-conditioned bundle of energy lies in endurance racing. Dumas has now racked up no fewer than eight wins at 24 hours races alone. He won in Le Mans with Audi and Porsche prototypes and drove to victory four times at the Nürburgring and twice at Spa-Francorchamps in a Porsche 911. ‘The thing that fascinates me more than anything else about endurance racing is the work as part of a team,' says Dumas. The Dakar Rally – ‘The toughest experience of my motorsport career,' according to Dumas – World Rally Championship races and the Mille Miglia, the classic car rally that stretches across Italy for more than 1,600 kilometres, also tend to fall into the category of endurance sport for him. Dumas even used to run marathons. ‘Unfortunately, I no longer have time for that,' he says regretfully.

Racing legend Jacky Ickx is a role model

Interestingly, however, the legendary ‘Race to the Clouds' on Pikes Peak is Dumas' only link to the discipline of hill climbing in his motor sport career – interesting because his father Maurice used to compete in hill climbing events and Dumas Junior had his first contact with motor sport here. ‘But I wanted to be in Formula 1,' says Dumas explaining the contradiction. His big role model as a racing driver was and remains the legendary Jacky Ickx. ‘I just love Jacky's immense versatility. He won Formula 1 races, was a sports car world champion and has even won the Dakar Rally. I have nothing but huge respect for these achievements.'

2017 Monte Carlo Rally: Romain Dumas wins the 2017 FIA R-GT Cup in a Porsche 911. The all-rounder from Alès in the south of France prepares his own rally car