Watch this Tesla Model 3 qualify third at Pikes Peak

We know Teslas are quick to 60mph. And they’re pretty handy around a track, too. But what about in a sprint up the most formidable mountain in motorsport?

Watch the video above and what you’ll see is something almost lacking drama, the Unplugged Performance Model 3 simply clawing into the ground and being fired ruthlessly between the turns by driver Randy Pobst.

But what the video actually shows is the Model 3 – and Pobst – achieving a qualifying time that’s not only best in class, but quick enough to put the Tesla third overall when you include the open-wheel racers that qualified the same day. Its 4:12.429 is a smidge over five seconds off the quickest open-wheel car, while almost 27 seconds ahead of the next quickest car in the Exhibition class it’s competing in, another modified Model 3.

As you can see from the on-board video, Unplugged’s mods are pretty no holds barred. Everything save the massive touchscreen has been stripped from the inside (do keep an eye on the temperatures it displays through Pobst’s projection up the hill), this being a race-prepped version of its Ascension R model. Unplugged describes it as ‘the GT3 RS of Teslas’. So you’ve a carbon body kit, carbon-ceramic brakes and hugely adjustable coilover suspension.

It goes without saying that Pikes Peak is more of a virtual than public event this year, with streaming of Race Day online on August 30.