Lamborghini Urus Smashes Bentley’s Pikes Peak Record

Yesterday we ran a story about Lamborghini teasing a camouflaged Urus taking on the infamous Pikes Peak. We initially thought this was Lambo’s way of saying it will be going after the Bentley Bentayga’s fastest SUV crown at the 2023 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, set to take place on June 25, 2023.

Man, were we wrong about that one. Or at least half right. To be fair, nobody could have predicted what Lamborghini was actually up to. Instead of competing in the actual race next year, Lamborghini staged its own Pikes Peak race, and in the process, set a new record with the yet-to-be-revealed facelifted SUV. To be clear, the official 2022 race took place on June 26, nearly two months ago.

Lamborghini chose Hillclimb champion and Pirelli test driver Simone Faggioli to drive the still unnamed Urus (we suspect Urus Evo) up the 12.42-mile hill. Faggioli has some history here as he set the rear-wheel drive record in 2018. According to Lambo, the timed attack took place on the same route as the race, with the road closed to traffic for the occasion.

The Urus *insert unknown suffix here* may not have competed in the actual race, but the time was recorded by the official timekeepers of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

The Urus beat both the non-race day SUV record held by the Range Rover Sport and the official race-day record set by the Bentley Bentayga. The Range Rover Sport went up the hill in 12:35.610, while the Bentayga took just 10:49.902.

The upcoming unnamed Urus did it in 10:32.064.

The Urus was running the standard twin-turbo V8 engine, though Lamborghini did not provide the updated power figures. It was modified to comply with safety regulations, which included a roll cage, fire extinguisher, and race seats with a six-point harness, but the big news is the tires.

The rubber fitted to the facelifted Urus is an evolution of the Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R. Pirelli’s famous semi-slick has been developed to meet the characteristics of an SUV, and it was designed in cooperation with Lamborghini.

Not only were they semis, but they were big as well with meaty 285/40 R22 bands up front and 325/35 R22 pieces of rubber at the back.

“The decision to test ourselves at Pikes Peak reflects the Lamborghini spirit of ‘expect the unexpected’, and demonstrates the outstanding performance of the new Urus model to be presented shortly,” said Rouven Mohr, Automobili Lamborghini Chief Technical Officer. “Pikes Peak is the most famous hillclimb event in the world, as well as being extremely challenging for the car: the uneven track layout tests the chassis’ balance; the significant altitude differences stress the powertrain; and the weather conditions can change very rapidly between start to finish.”

We would criticize Lamborghini for staging its own race, but the weather conditions between June and August are remarkably similar. Still, the idea of a race is that all competitors compete on the same day in the same conditions, under the same pressure.

We hope Lamborghini returns in 2023 to make it race-day official.