The legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will take place next weekend after being postponed following the Colorado fires at the start of the summer. Audi have revealed a teaser of what we can expect to see from them over the weekend. The image reveals the front grille of an Audi RS5. It has been 25 years since Audi and Walter Rohrl set a blistering time of 10 minutes and 48 seconds up the mountain road.
Pikes Peak is a 12.42 mile (19.99 km) course with 156 turns. While cars like last years Suzuki SX4 have gone faster, Rohrl’s time remains the fastest for the unpaved course. This year will be the first time that the whole course will be paved following pressure from environmental group, the Sierra Club.
Rohrl will attend the historic event, sliding behind the steering wheel of his 600hp Audi Sport quattro S1. He won’t be timed for his run but will enjoy his reunion with the course. It’s not clear if Audi will run the Audi RS5 in one of the Pikes Peak categories. The standard RS5 with its 4.2 liter V8 engine and 450hp won’t be able to challenge Rohrl’s legendary time, but we’re still intrigued by Audi’s parting words: “we’ve got a surprise in store for you.”