Romain Dumas

Romain Dumas (born 14 December 1977) is a French racing driver in endurance racing, GT and sport-prototype. He has won the greatest races of the discipline, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Spa, the Nürburgring 24 Hours, and the 12 Hours of Sebring. He has been one of Porsche's factory drivers since 2004. He's also been contracted to Audi from 2009 to 2012, Volkswagen from 2017 to 2019, and Ford Performance since 2022, setting records in mostly electric prototypes at Pikes Peak and other places.

Biography Born in Alès, Dumas started karting in 1992, in 1996 he competed in the French Formula Renault Championship. In 1998, he joined the French Formula 3 Championship.

Dumas tested a Formula 3000 car for Oreca in 1999, a Renault F1 in 2002, and in 2004 a Conquest Racing Champ Car, but he did not proceed to race in these formulas. Two years after his F3000 test, though, he competed in Euro Formula 3000, in 2001 and 2002.

From 2001 to 2023, Dumas has participated in every 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and from 2002 to 2013 he has competed in American Le Mans Series. He was a Porsche factory driver for Penske Racing, and also driven in the FIA GT Championship.

In 2007, Dumas won first overall in the 24 Hours Nürburgring, 1st American Le Mans Series (LMP2 Class — Penske Porsche RS Spyder with eight wins, four pole positions), 3rd Le Mans 24 Hours (LMP1 Class — Pescarolo Sport, 5th 1000 km Valencia LMS (LMP1 Class — Pescarolo Sport ), four races VLN championship with Manthey Racing (two wins, one pole position), 18th Daytona 24H (12th DP)

Dumas started 2008 with the P2 class and overall win at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring in the Penske Porsche RS Spyder.

Dumas was invited to test an Indycar for Team Penske at the end of the 2008 season, at Sonoma Raceway (named Infineon Raceway at the time).

As of 2009, Roger Penske lost sponsorship for the sports car program, Dumas and Timo Bernhard raced on loan to the Audi Sport Team Joest, finishing 17 overall and 13 in class in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Dumas, together with Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller won the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans in an Audi R15 TDI plus. He also won the 2010 24 Hours of Spa in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Dumas also won with partner Klaus Graf in the CytoSport Porsche RS Spyder at the ALMS event at Mosport.

Dumas developed and drove the Porsche 919 Hybrid in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2014.

In 2014, Dumas won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in a Norma M20 "RD Limited" prototype developed specifically for the event.

In 2015, Dumas raced a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Car in the RGT class of the WRC Monte Carlo Rally, placing second behind class winner François Delecour. Later he claimed a class win at the Rallye Deutschland.

Dumas continued as a Porsche LMP1 works driver for the 2016 FIA WEC season. Dumas and teammates Neel Jani and Marc Lieb achieved victory at the 6 Hours of Silverstone (after the original winners were excluded for a technical infraction) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans en route to winning the driver's championship. A week after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Dumas claimed victory at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with a Norma prototype, earning his second overall win at the event.

In 2017, Dumas did not return as a Porsche LMP1 works driver. He earned a third overall victory at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, again with a Norma prototype.

In 2018, Dumas won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb again, driving the Volkswagen I.D. R and setting a new overall record of 7:57.148, with an average speed of 150.9 km/h. He was interviewed in his house in Geneva about training methods, which include using an old Arai helmet modified for neck weight training.

In 2019, Dumas set a new lap record for an electric vehicle at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, completing the circuit in 6:05.336 driving the Volkswagen ID R. The same year, he set a lap record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, completing the hill climb in 0:39.90 driving the Volkswagen I.D. R, beating Nick Heidfeld in the McLaren MP4/13 Formula One car. In September, Dumas and the Volkswagen I.D. R set the official benchmark for hill climbing the Tianmen Mountain, completing the Shan Big Gate Road in 07:38.585.

In 2021, Dumas took another Time Attack class win at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, with the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport of Champion Racing.

In 2023, Dumas drove the Ford SuperVan 4.2 at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, finishing 1st in the division (Pikes Peak Open) and 2nd overall, with a time of 8:47.682. He also set the lap record at the Mount Panorama Circuit in 2024 with the SuperVan, setting a time of 1:56.3247.

In December, 2023, Dumas set the world record for land vehicle altitude, driving a Porsche 911 to the peak of the west ridge of the Ojos del Salado volcano in Chile, above sea level.

In 2024, Dumas earned his fifth overall Pikes Peak International Hill Climb victory, while driving a Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck in the Pikes Peak Open class. Dumas set a time of 8:53.563, just under seven seconds clear of second place.

24 Hours of Daytona results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 2002 Freisinger Motorsport Ni Amorim Stéphane Ortelli Hans Fertl Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT 303 10th 3rd 2005 Brumos Racing J.C. France Hurley Haywood Timo Bernhard Mike Rockenfeller Fabcar FDSC/03-Porsche DP 432 DNF DNF 2007 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Crawford DP03-Porsche DP 615 18th 12th 2008 The Racer's Group Tim George Jr. Spencer Pumpelly Bryan Sellers Emmanuel Collard Porsche 997 GT3 Cup GT 657 11th 3rd 2009 Penske Racing Timo Bernhard Ryan Briscoe Riley MkXX-Porsche DP 717 6th 6th 2010 The Racer's Group Timo Bernhard Tim George Jr. Bobby Labonte Spencer Pumpelly Porsche 997 GT3 Cup GT 668 16th 9th 2013 The Racer's Group Emmanuel Collard Niclas Jönsson Tracy Krohn Porsche 911 GT3 Cup GT 451 DNF DNF 2018 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Loïc Duval Oreca 07-Gibson P 808 3rd 3rd 2019 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Loïc Duval Nissan DPi DPi 589 4th 4thSource: 2003Team NasamaxLMP900Reynard 01QCosworth XDE 2.7 L Turbo V8 † Did not finish the race but was classified as his car completed more than 70% of the overall winner's race distance.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results