2021 Hillclimb winner soars in Germany

KNYSNA NEWS – One of the big-hitters of Knysna's Simola Hillclimb has made his mark on the international stage.

Pieter Zeelie, 2021 King of the Hill winner in the Modified Saloon Car category, competed in the prestigious FIA International Hill Climb Cup in Osnabrück, Germany at the beginning of August - and to say that he did South Africa proud would be a huge understatement.

Driving his locally developed and impeccably prepared Toyota MR2 Super GT V6 Turbo, Zeelie became the first South African to compete in a European hillclimb event against some of the top competitors in the world, with the line-up featuring a total of 185 entries from 14 countries across the various classes.

Despite this being his first international event, Zeelie powered his way onto the podium, finishing second in the highest Performance Factor class (PF1) and third overall in the Production Car category.

This exceptional feat was achieved on the tight and very technical 2,03km Osnabrück hillclimb course in Lower Saxony, with this year being the 54th edition of the event which attracted around 25 000 spectators.

Pieter Zeelie takes one of the corners on the Onsabrück track.

"The Osnabrück Hillclimb is similar in distance to the 1,9km Simola Hillclimb, but has 13 corners versus approximately eight of Simola, depending on which you regard to be corners as some are taken as straights," Zeelie says.

"The corners at Osnabrück are generally much slower and, accordingly, the total elapsed time is in the order of 60 seconds versus Simola's 40 seconds for saloon cars.

"The road surface of Osnabrück is phenomenal, and traction, therefore, is equally exceptional. It caught me out a bit as I did not know how much one can push the car," Zeelie explains.

"The same applies to positive cambers in some of the corners which allows more g-forces to be pulled.

"One therefore needs to do a few runs before you will know where to push harder and where to be more careful. The track is narrow with barriers on the edges of the tar surface, whereas Simola has some space if you go a bit wide, and I initially found this to be daunting but got used to it. Tyre warmers aren't allowed, so we also struggled a bit with traction."

Just as at the Simola Hillclimb, there were stunning views for Zeelie and his fellow competitors.

An impressive feat

What made Zeelie's podium finish even more impressive was the limited time he had to familiarise himself with the course, as competitors only have three test runs on the Saturday, followed by three competition runs on the Sunday.

The two fastest times on Sunday are added together to determine the final podium positions.

Despite just six opportunities to get used to the course, Zeelie proved his sheer class with his two best runs of 1:02:014 and 1:01.44, giving him a combined time of 2:03.458.

This placed him in a fantastic third overall place in the Production Car category, with the win going to Frenchman Nicolas Werver (1:59.871) in his purpose-built Porsche 911 GT3 R, achieving a best run of 59.490 seconds.

The Performance Factor classes are determined by the FIA, using a score sheet that factors in the engine, aerodynamics, drivetrain and chassis. Competitors are then placed in one of five PF classes, and Zeelie competed in PF1 for the most powerful vehicles.

Pieter Zeelie (left, in red) proudly on the podium. Photos: Daniel and Uwe Gerken