The third practice session for King of the Hill was suddenly a lot busier on the Simola Hill as a lot more competitors ventured out for their first runs of the day, making the most of the weather clearing slightly and the track conditions improving.
However the road surface remains greasy, as Pieter Joubert found out when he spun into the tyre barrier at the exit of Turn 3 in his Mercedes AMG-powered 2006 Lotus Exige – fortunately without significant damage, and he was able to continue.
Predictably, the times continue dropping, with Andre Bezuidenhout slashing 6 seconds from his opening run to go fastest at 40.846 sec. Franco Scribante powered his way to the second-fastest time at 42.075 sec, nudging Reghard Roets into third place by 0.875 sec. Andrew Schofield had to abandon his run in the 2003 Formula Renault when he wasn’t able to engage 1st gear on the start line.
Byron Mitchell took almost 2 sec off his time in P2 (43.830 sec), ahead of Anton Cronje (2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STi) on 45.299 sec. Robert Wolk is starting to unleash the 1989 Pillbeam MP58 as he gets used to the car, which is powered by a modern Infiniti IndyCar engine (45.350 sec).
JP van der Walt leads the Road Car & Supercar category currently in the 2016 Porsche 911 Turbo S, dipping under the 50 second mark for the first time (49.904 sec).
In the all-electric vehicle class, motoring journalist Ciro de Siena leads the charge in the first BMW i4 M50 in the country, which was specially flown in for the Simola Hillclimb. He has steadily improved his times, with a best so far of 53.859 sec. In the battle of the VW Motorsport drivers in the all-electric VW e-Golfs, Jonathan Mogotsi is currently quickest (1:02.410), a second ahead of Daniel Rowe.
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Release compiled by Colin Mileman (082-897-6145 colin@milemanmedia.co.za)
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