As forecasted, the Simola Hillclimb Saturday session had some ominous clouds above-head throughout the on-track activities for the day.
The contenders battling for the King of the Hill title ventured out onto the stretch of road in the morning practice sessions and afternoon qualifying.
A heavy downpour during the night made proceedings slightly tricky for both competitors on the damp track and spectators who had to navigate through mud and sludge in the surrounding grandstands. Nonetheless, the challengers of the hill ventured out into a wet, morning practice session before conditions improved by lunch time; just in time for a relatively dry but cool qualifying shootout. A light drizzle returned in the closing stages of the day, leaving drivers on slick tyres with some anxiety-inducing moments behind the wheel.
Robert Wolk, in the 1989 Pillbeam MP58 managed to clock the fastest time up the hill with a 40.221 run during the first qualifying session. Reghard Roets managed second best in the BB Motorsport Nissan GT-R setting a time of 40.296 and leads the Modified Saloon Car category 0.4 sec ahead of rival Franco Scribante. Reigning Modified Saloon Car champion Pieter Zeelie only managed 42.575 which is just over two seconds slower than his fastest time from last year.
Andre Bezuidenhout managed to get the Gould GR55 up to the top of the hill with a time of 41.420 seconds in Q2 after switching to inters for the slightly damp track – this time is four seconds off of his best practice time. Franco Scribante and Reghard Roets chose not to go out in the conditions while Wade van Zummeren did, in his bespoke Nissan GT-R which managed a 42.996.
Sunday will be action packed with the contenders battling it out for the King of the Hill title with clearer conditions above. Considering the conditions of qualifying, it is unknown if the current record held by Andre Bezuidenhout in his Gould GR55 during the 2021 edition of 34.965 seconds is at risk of being beaten
Keyword: GALLERY: 2022 Simola Hillclimb Saturday session