Maltese drivers for Etna Hill Climb

Twelve Maltese drivers, all members of the Island Car Club, are on their way to compete in this weekend's Etna Hill Climb, organised by Salerno Corse under the auspices of UISP and CONI.

Five of these drivers only recently returned from a very successful trip to the hill climb at Cesaro where the Maltese drivers won absolutely everything there was to win.

Zach Zammit, driving his Ralt Honda, and Joshua Anastasi, on his JBR3 Kawasaki, in fact, finished first and second overall, demoting Italian champion Carmelo Scaramozzino and his Breda BMW to third place.

Matthew Zammit (Van Diemen Suzuki) finished an excellent fifth overall with Steve Zammit Cutajar (Tatuus Hyabusa) seventh. David Anastasi also placed well and won his class with his Mini Doda.

Encouraged by these results, a further seven drivers have taken out International Competition Licences, issued by the Malta Motorsport Federation, and entered the Etna event.

This is also the most popular fixture in the Sicilian calendar, attracting well over 200 quality starters.

New drivers on their first foray abroad include John Zammit (Lotus Elise), Lino Brincat (Dallara Alfa Romeo), Hubert Camilleri (Chevron Cosworth), Nikolai Degiorgio (Lancia Delta), Mark Galea (Subaru Impreza), Michael Fenech (Audi TT) and Noel Galea (Ford Fiesta).

Grimaldi Group, through their local agents Sullivan Maritime, are sponsoring six of these competitors as well as the Taormina event next month.

Other sponsors have also contributed to help all 12 competitors.

Parliamentary Secretary for Sport, Clyde Puli, will also be attending the event as a guest of the organisers.

In the meantime, since his defeat at the hands of the Maltese last month, Scaramozzino has gone out and acquired an even more powerful Lola Judd racer. He will be vying for the honours at Etna along with a number of top Italian drivers.

As one prominent Italian journalist put it after seeing the entry list... 'saranno difficile da battere questi Maltesi'.

Well, we'll see but I'm sure there will be plenty of Maltese flags flying this weekend on the road from Nicolosi to Etna.