The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is going into battle at Pikes Peak

Hyundai has announced that it will send four Ioniq 5 Ns to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in June, with the intention of snatching away a course record to (presumably) display back at its HQ.

However only two of the quarter will be eligible, and even those have only been mildly tweaked to meet safety regs: the driver’s seat is now a Recaro Pro Racer Hans unit and seat belt is now a six-point Sabelt job.

Oh, and the back seats have been removed entirely. Necessary for the roll cage and fire suppression system, you see.

Meanwhile Hyundai says it will unveil two properly modified versions of the 5 N ahead of the Nurburgring 24H at the end of May. No details on what that’ll entail yet, but given the leccy hatch already produces 641bhp in stock spec… our expectations are high. Almost as high as the Pikes Peak summit.

And why is Hyundai targeting Pikes Peak? It "embodies the racetrack capability of every N performance vehicle", apparently. Plus a trophy would look good in the factory reception.

Drivers of the standard (ish) spec 5 N will be 11-time Pikes Peak winner and 1993 overall record-setter Paul Dallenbach, plus former Hoonigan exec Ron Zaras.

The modded 5 Ns will be piloted by four-time winner Robin Shute and WRC driver Dani Sordo. Plenty of pedigree there, then.

“We are returning to the mountain stronger than we have left it, with a class leading electric SUV in the form of Ioniq 5 N,” said Till Wartenberg, head of N Brand and Motorsport. “Hyundai has a history of proving new technologies and products at Pikes Peak going all the way back to 1992 and the Ioniq 5 N brings that concept to high performance electric cars.

“The production spec Ioniq 5 N will demonstrate what customers can expect from their vehicles.”

Now there’s a statement. A small reminder that the 5 N will crush 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds and gets WRC-inspired integrated drive axles, N-tuned brakes and structural enhancements having been tested to the Nth degree (buh-dum, tsh) at the ‘Ring.

The (quite glorious) red paint seen here will make way for a special Pikes Peak livery, too. Roll on June.