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| Pontiac Solstice GXP And Rhys Millen Take Pikes Peak Time Attack Title |
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The Red Bull Pontiac Solstice GXP and Rhys Millen claimed the first ever Time Attack title at the 85th Annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb today. It was Millen's seventh overall title in 15 trips to the Hill Climb, and his third recordin three different divisions.
Naturally, Millen was pleased, but content he was not. While thrilled with the performance of the Pontiac Solstice, he was disappointed in the road conditions.
After four years of being gone, it's great to come up here and pull off a victory, Millen said. It's just an amazing car to drive. The handling, the braking, the power, I couldn't have asked for a better ride today, I just didn't get the road that I was looking for. That's the challenge of Pikes Peak. Although we set the division record, beat quite comfortably the two-wheel drive cars, and surprisingly enough the four-wheel drive cars, it just still doesn't feel like a win.
Millen went into the race with a goal of 11:35 to 11:45 over the 12.4 mile course. What he got was a time of 12:45.153, nearly four seconds faster than his nearest competitor.
When you are involved in motor sport and you have the highs and lows of racing, and you feel that you had a good result, and you don't meet your own personal expectations, it's just not 100 percent satisfaction, he said. But overall, the car, the effort the team put in, it was just amazing.
We left the starting line at 153 degrees water temperature, and finished at the top with 168 degrees water temperature. The crew, the GM Racing folks who helped develop some of the cooling systems, and chose to use the E85 fuel, that's the reason the car was so fast today.
Millen posted the fastest times at all three check points leading up to the finish. He ran 1:55.189 to the Halfway Picnic Ground (the only Time Attack vehicle under two minutes), 5:38.846 to Glen Cove and 8:42.655 through the 16-mile mark.
At the first checkpoint, understandably, Millen felt like he was in for a great run.
I really did, he said. That checkpoint is right as you go through Picnic Ground straightaway, right as the pavement finishes and it turns to dirt. At that point I was just like, This thing is flying,' this is going to be an incredible time.
I've known all week we were going fast at Picnic Ground, but in all the vehicles that are comparable to the Solstice GXP, we've only hit speeds of 97 miles and hour. I've never done over 100 miles an hour on that straightaway, and today we pulled 112 miles an hour. That just goes to show the power and performance of the engine, and how much grip we had on the pavement.
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