Lamborghini announced that it’ll be unveiling two new Urus models this year, and one of them – ahead of its launch, mind you – has just smashed the record for the production SUV category on the historic Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Under the experienced hands of Hillclimb champion and Pirelli test driver Simone Faggioli, the yet-unnamed camouflaged new Urus model managed to set a time of 10:32.064 on the Pikes Peak route, beating the Bentley Bentayga’s previous record by nearly 18 seconds.
Although Lamborghini is still keeping mum on the car underneath the camouflage, the company says that it’s powered with a “standard twin-turbo V8 engine”, which leads us to believe that it’s most likely the highly-rumoured high performance ‘Evo’ model.
The juiced-up Urus will be launched alongside a plug-in hybrid as part of the model’s mid-lifecycle update, set to be unveiled sometime this year.
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Lamborghini did have to make some modifications to the camouflaged Urus (which is still technically a prototype) in order to comply with the safety regulations of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The passenger compartment is equipped with a roll cage; the standard seats are replaced by a race seat with six-point harness, and a fire extinguishing system was also installed into the car.
Despite that, the rest of the car is supposedly stock, including the updated Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tyres, which are developed specifically for the Urus to “meet the characteristics of an SUV”, offering increased versatility and performance no matter in the dry or wet.
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“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 Lamborghini Chief Technical Officer, Rouven Mohr.
“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.”
When you have a car that can beat the previous record by that margin, that’s how you convince Pikes Peak to close down the public roads just for you to set a time.
GALLERY
