Gallery
KNYSNA NEWS - King of the Hill defending champion and this year’s Classic Conqueror victor, André Bezuidenhout, is leading the pack this weekend courtesy of a rapid 35,347-second time in the first qualifying session yesterday, Saturday 6 May.
Following on from Friday’s fantastic conditions, weather was once again just right and conducive for some fine, fast-paced racing action on the second day of the Hillclimb.
It was a largely uneventful day to get the King of the Hill competition going, with a couple of spins (one at turn two, one at the finish) proving to be the only ‘drama’ of the day alongside Franco Scribante destroying his rear prop shaft off the start-line.
WRC and WRX champion and Simola Hillclimb debutant Petter Solberg lit up the hill at the first time of asking, clocking a simply ridiculous time of 40,867 seconds on his first-ever run up the 1,9km Simola Hill. His VW Polo R WRX Supercar was running two-and-a-half-year-old tyres, but his boots were made for speeding and that he did.
By the end of the day, he found himself inside the top three in the Modified Saloon Cars category. His fastest time of 39,848 seconds places him third after qualifying, behind second-placed Franco Scribante (39,021 seconds) and first-placed Reghard Roets (38,045 seconds).
In the Road-going Saloon Cars and Supercars category JP van der Walt leads the way with a best qualifying time of 44,630 seconds. He stands ahead of Garth Mackintosh (44,919 seconds) and Clint Weston (45,948 seconds). Former Formula 1 driver Mika Salo lies 0,8 seconds further adrift in fourth place in his 2023 Mercedes AMG 45S.
Defending King of the Hill champion and record-holder André Bezuidenhout really lay down the gauntlet yesterday though, clocking his best time of 35,347 seconds in the first qualifying session before closing up shop for the rest of the day.
He leads the Single Seater and Sports Prototypes category, ahead of Robert Wolk (37,259 seconds) who was consistently second quickest throughout the day. Andrew Rackstraw rounds out Saturday’s top three in the category, with a time of 40,389 seconds.
The programme for the rest of Sunday, is as follows:
Qualifying Round 4 – 10:00 to 10:40
Qualifying Round 5 – 11:00 to 11:40
Qualifying Round 6 – 12:00 to 12:40
Lunch (with entertainment) – 13:00 to 14:00
Finals and shootouts:
Class Finals – 14:05 to 14:50
Road & SuperCar Shootout – 14:55 to 15:05
Modified Saloon Car Shootout – 15:10 to 15:20
Single Seater & Sports Car Shootout – 15:25 to 15:35
Prize Giving – 16:00
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
