Evasive Motorsports Trades Its Tesla for a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N at Pikes Peak Hillclimb

There’s a lot to love when it comes to Hyundai and its motorsports programs. They practice what they preach in their N Division vehicles—like the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N—by taking them racing and applying that knowledge to their road cars. This year, the Ioniq 5 N is headed to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, in an effort headed by a well-known tuning shop from Southern California, Evasive Motorsports. The stripped down, caged up, and kitted out 5 N that Evasive is building for the Race to the Clouds is the outfit's followup to a 2022 Tesla Model 3 it's raced up Pikes Peak previously.

The idea for 2025 is the same as 2022 when Evasive ran the Tesla Model 3: break the 10-minute barrier. Luckily, the playbook for the Hyundai is largely the same as for the Model 3—starting with a diet. The Ioniq 5 N loses its entire interior, as well as its stock doors and tailgate, which are replaced by carbon-fiber pieces.

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Next up, it gains a set of lightweight forged wheels from Titan 7 with their T-P10 in 19x11 inch fitment that were wrapped in Yokohama Advan A005 race slicks. EVS Tuning (Evasive Motorsports tuner parts brand) adds a set of aero discs to help make sure the wheels are as slick as the 5 N is through the ever thinning air while going up the 14,115-foot summit. Behind those aero discs are a set of CounterSpace Garage brake pads clamping down on the 5 N’s disc brake setup with Endless brake fluid providing the hydraulic pressure. All told, the Evasive Motorsports team cuts 500 pounds from the Ioniq 5 N's original 4,851-pound curb weight.

As a bonus, the new wheels stick out so far beyond the stock fenders, it forced Evasive to fit a sweet body kit to contain them. With a close relationship with prominent aerodynamics builder Voltex, Evasive sent in a 3D model of the 5 N, and Voltex went to work on creating a new front lip and splitter, side skirts, fender flares, new underbody aero, and a rear wing all from carbon fiber.

For quick tire changes, a set of Krontec air jacks lift the car off the ground without the need a pump jack (and reduces the risk of accidental damage in using it). Also underneath the Hyundai are custom Moton coilovers built in a very short timeframe with legendary suspension tuner Mike Kojima designing the entire setup. They're joined by a set of EVS Tuning anti-roll bars.

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The Ioniq 5 N is protected by an Eimer Engineering six-point roll cage, and driver Rob Walker sits in a Sparco QRT-C carbon fiber seat. Finally, the 5 N and its new body parts are wrapped in the N Division livery scheme, ready to tackle the legendary mountain.

There is a bit of serendipity in the driver choice. Walker was in the process of shopping for a new, high-performance EV to have as a daily driver and was already looking at a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N as a potential purchase. After a call from Evasive Motorsports co-owner, Mike Chang, Walker purchased one and has been slinging it around the equally legendary Buttonwillow Raceway and taking advantage of Hyundai’s access to the Tesla Supercharger network that has a set of chargers not that far away from the racetrack. Thanks to this purchase and constant seat time, Walker therefore has more than a passing familiarity with the 2025 Ioniq 5 N Pikes Peak International Hill Climb racer he'll be wheeling in the EV class this year. If you want to see how Walker, Evasive, and Hyundai perform, the 2025 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will take place on June 22, 2025.