Second time out for the Classic Car Friday contenders and the top three remain unchanged, although as expected the times are already tumbling. Franco Scribante went more than a second quicker in his Chevron B19, posting a time of 43.091 seconds.
Last year’s Classic Conqueror, Ian Schofield, was the next quickest, slashing more than 3 seconds off his opening stint with a time of 43.513 seconds – just 1.2 sec off his winning time from last year in the 1977 March 77B Formula Atlantic.
Andre Bezuidenhout was third (44.505 sec) in the 1976 Lola Cosworth T460, having dropped the car’s original 1.6-litre engine for a 2.0-litre unit for this year’s event.
In a remarkable comeback story, Charles Arton is back in action in the 1979 March 79B that he drove to the Classic Car Friday win in 2015. The car was extensively damaged in a transporter fire directly after the 2017 event, but it has been fully restored for the 2023 Simola Hillclimb – and he was rewarded with the fourth fastest time in Practice 2 (47.244 sec), ahead of Rui Campos in the 1976 Porsche 911 RSR (47.325 sec).
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Release compiled by Colin Mileman (082-897-6145 colin@milemanmedia.co.za)