KNYSNA, South Africa, 21 July 2021
Knysna Speed Festival, organiser of the iconic Simola Hillclimb, and Monarch Events, a leading esports company, today announced that the second edition of the Virtual Simola Hillclimb will run from 26 July through to 5 September 2021, overlapping with the real Simola Hillclimb.
The cross-over event will see the finals of the Monarch Virtual Simola Hillclimb run on the same days as the three-day real event on 3-5 September.
The first edition of the Virtual Simola Hillclimb run earlier this year proved to be a huge success with competitors, fans, and the media all enthusiastically embracing the event and keeping the Hillclimb top of mind.
For the second edition, the basic structure of the virtual event has remained the same as in edition one featuring four weeks of time attacks each with a new car. The organizers will reveal the car to be used each Friday before the next round.
A slight tweak to the format has been made to align with the real event more closely. This change will see two competitions run each week rather than the single competition of edition one: one for classic cars leading to the Classic Car Friday (3rd September) final, and one for modern race and road cars competing in the King of the Hill category leading to the finals on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th September.
Ian Shrosbree, MD of Knysna Speed Festival, said that following the success of the first Virtual Simola Hillclimb it had become clear there was an appetite for a second edition of the event.
“Interest and engagement from participants, fans and media for the first running of the virtual iteration of the Hillclimb was incredible. It received great reviews across all channels with features on CNN and eNCA, and many radio interviews. We are thankful to Monarch and its commercial partners for making edition two happen in these tough economic times. Without their support we would not have been able to run it a second time,” he said.
Monarch CEO Warren Barkhuizen added, “The vision of running a virtual event alongside the actual Simola Hillclimb has become reality. We are grateful to be part of this new concept and we know it’s going to be an exciting and successful venture like the first one”.
The Monarch Virtual Simola Hillclimb, powered by K9H (Kyalami 9 Hours) and ATK, starts with the opening round on Monday 26 July running through to Sunday 1 August. Round two is from Monday 2 August to 8 August. Round three will run from 9 – 15 August, and Round Four – the final qualifying round, from 16 – 22 August. As in edition one Monarch will be running 10 servers to host the online competition.
The top-10 finishers from the four qualifying rounds in each category will progress to the finals. There are no restrictions on who can enter the event, however only residents of South Africa will qualify for prizes. Prizes will be announced on Monday 23rd August.
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For more information on the Virtual Simola Hillclimb contact Eric Buijs on email: eric@buijs.co.za or mobile 082 662 4610.