Which Volkswagen electric race car set the overall Pikes Peak record in 2018?

The Volkswagen electric race car that set the overall Pikes Peak record in 2018 was the Volkswagen I.D. R.

Volkswagen built the I.D. R Pikes Peak as a purpose-designed electric hill-climb prototype after the company withdrew from several conventional motorsport programs. French driver Romain Dumas drove it in the 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Its two electric motors and four-wheel drive produced extraordinary acceleration and traction on the steep, twisting course.

Dumas completed the 12.42-mile route in 7:57.148, becoming the first driver to break the eight-minute barrier. The run also surpassed Sébastien Loeb’s outright record, set in 2013 with a gasoline-powered Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak. That distinction matters: the I.D. R did not merely set an electric-car record; it set the event’s overall four-wheel record at the time.

A common mix-up is confusing the I.D. R with Volkswagen’s road-car I.D. models, such as the ID.3. The I.D. R was a lightweight racing prototype, not a production electric hatchback.