Romain Dumas (born 14 December 1977) is a French racing driver and driver for Glickenhaus in the World Endurance Championship. He first started out in karting and single-seater before becoming an expert 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. Adding to this, Dumas is a Chopard ambassador.
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.
He 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 he 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 he won first overall in the 24 Hours Nürburgring, 1st American Le Mans Series (LMP2 Class — Penske Porsche RS Spyder with 8 wins, 4 pole positions), 3rd Le Mans 24 Hours (LMP1 Class — Pescarolo Sport, 5th 1000 km Valencia LMS (LMP1 Class — Pescarolo Sport ), 4 races VLN championship with Manthey Racing (2 wins, 1 pole position), 18th Daytona 24H (12th DP)
He 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).[1]
As of 2009 Roger Penske lost sponsorship for the sports car program, and Dumas and Penske regular Timo Bernhard race on loan to the Audi Sport Team Joest for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 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.[2] He also won the 2010 24 Hours of Spa in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.[3] Dumas also won with partner Klaus Graf in the CytoSport Porsche RS Spyder at the ALMS event at Mosport.[4]
Dumas developed and drove the Porsche 919 Hybrid in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2014.[5]
In 2014, Dumas won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in a Norma M20 "RD Limited" prototype developed specifically for the event.[6]
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.[7] Later he claimed a class win at the Rallye Deutschland.
Dumas continued as Porsche LMP1 driver in the 2016 FIA WEC. He won the 6 Hours of Silverstone and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Also, he claimed a second win at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with a Norma prototype.
In 2017, he won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for a third time, again with a Norma prototype.
In 2018, Dumas won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb again, driving the Volkswagen I.D. R[8] 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.[9]
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 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.[10]He also set the lap record of Bathurst circuit in 2024 with the SuperVan.
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, 6,734 metres 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.[11] Dumas set a time of 8:53.563, just under seven seconds clear of second place.[11]
Endurance remains his main program. He raced with Alpine at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2017, and then with Rebellion Racing and Glickenhaus Racing in the top class, with a podium-finish at the 1000 Miles of Sebring and a pole position at the 6 Hours of Monza in FIA World Endurance Championship.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
† Did not finish the race but was classified as his car completed more than 70% of the overall winner's race distance.
* Season still in progress.