Romain Dumas is on a roll! After establishing a new record at Pikes Peak the week following the 86th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the French driver - at the wheel of a Volkswagen I.D. R - demolished the record previously set by an electric car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. But it's not as easy as it looks, particularly in Colorado.

"First of all, unlike endurance racing, the driver is on his own," begins Romain Dumas. "Sure, you don't have to deal with teammate set-up preferences and the like, but all the pressure is squarely on one driver's shoulders. And that's enormous for a race like Pikes Peak because you only get one go at it. All incidents are prohibited. At Le Mans, if your pit stop takes too long, you lose the race...especially in a class as competitive as LMGTE Pro...but you can still finish the race. At Pikes Peak, you're done."

A worst-case scenario befell the French driver at the 2013 Pikes Peak hill climb (during which Sébastien Loeb smashed the record with his Peugeot 208 T16): a mechanical malfunction ended all hopes of a positive result just a few hundred meters after the start. At that edition, Romain Dumas entered his own car via his private team. This year, he was supported by Volkswagen, a marque within the same group as his employer Porsche that he represented at the 86th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"Pikes Peak went a lot better than the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year," continues Romain Dumas. "After one of my teammates significantly damaged the car during a session, the mechanics had to switch out the shell, and during the race a suspension bracket snapped off, forcing us to retire. I had plenty of incentive to do well in Colorado to make up for the disappointment. In any case, you only get one chance, so when you're at the wheel you have to be 100% focused and can't think of anything else."

PHOTOS ABOVE: Romain Dumas near the Porsche 917K at the 2018 Le Mans Classic, the #94 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Romain Dumas at the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Volkswagen I.D. R winner at this year's Pikes Peak hill climb.

Concentration is also crucial at Le Mans, but several hundred laps of the 13.626 km circuit in 24 hours and a hill climb of nearly 20 km with 156 turns to be completed just once are "completely different [challenges]. During the session, it's cut into three sections, so you never cover the entire thing before the actual race."

Imagine the 24 Hours of Le Mans track was divided into three parts and competitors weren't allowed to drive the entire circuit until the day of race itself: not an easy feat when you're going at full speed! At Pikes Peak, two additional factors come into play: the lack of oxygen (with a finish line at an altitude of approximately 4,300 meters) and cliff drop-offs instead of the safety barriers placed around the 24 Hours circuit. "I admit I've been scared before, especially when I slid in a hairpin turn. The track was wet and there was fog in the second section. In those conditions, the driver is fighting himself...and the clock. I lost some time, but I really wanted to go after the record."

It's mission accomplished in 7:57.148! Sébastien Loeb himself congratulated Romain Dumas when the two drivers hit the karting track at Le Mans with Loïc Duval during the Le Mans Classic on 7 July.

PHOTO: Romain Dumas at the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans.