Range Rover Sport PHEV Races With Pro Swimmers in Sea [Video]

The new Range Rover Sport has made its debut in a daring race against two open-water swimmers, crossing the flooded causeway to Burgh Island – usually accessible only at low tide. The performance SUV wades into rising tide to beat swimmers in race from Bantham Beach to Burgh Island in South Devon, UK.

The Electric-petrol SUV tested against former open-water swimming world champion Keri-anne Payne and athlete adventurer Ross Edgley under the series of challenges completed by the Range Rover Sport, including a record-setting hill-climb at Pikes Peak, a record crossing of the ‘Empty Quarter’ desert in the Arabian Peninsula and last year’s Downhill Alpine Ski Challenge.

With two-time open-water swimming world champion Keri-anne Payne and endurance athlete Ross Edgley hitting the waves, the Range Rover Sport faced soft sand, tidal roads and waded through waves up to 850mm deep on its 14km (8.7-mile) inland drive from Bantham Beach to Burgh Island in South Devon, UK.

The team of swimmers faced a challenging 1.5km (0.9-mile) course across the choppy coastline while the new Range Rover Sport P400e electric-petrol model encountered roads flooded by the incoming tide and used its EV mode to make near-silent progress through the tiny villages along its route.

The performance SUV reached the beach just as the tide covered the sand that links Burgh Island to the mainland, leaving the Range Rover Sport to put its wading capabilities to the test and overtake the swimmers just before the finish line.

The Range Rover Sport P400e is the first model to use Land Rover’s advanced plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology, combining an 85kW (116PS) electric motor and a 2.0-litre Si4 300PS (221kW) Ingenium petrol engine to produce 404PS (297kW) and 640Nm of torque.

The British designed, engineered and built Range Rover Sport has sold more than 732,000 since it was introduced in 2004. Since then, its unrivalled mix of refinement and exhilarating performance has seen it star on TV and in movies around the world.

Designed and engineered at Jaguar Land Rover’s manufacturing centre in the UK, the new Range Rover Sport will be produced at the company’s Solihull production facility and goes on sale at the end of 2017 around the world.

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