Camilleri lands record 10th title at Ta’ Penellu

Spectators at last Sunday’s hillclimb in Mellieħa saw history in the making as Hubert Camilleri clinched his 10th national championship before a record crowd that lined the hill from start to ­finish.

Those present were regaled with several excellent performances by local drivers, who thundered up the Ta’ Pennellu Hill in a quest for elusive end of season points, in a haze of rubber and high octane fuel.

Fifty nine cars entered the race, proof of the level of commitment local competitors have for motorsports.

The participating vehicles covered almost every niche found in the world of racing, from standard production cars that are used as day to day transport, stripped out race cars, rally cars, classic formula cars that could be displayed in museums through to homemade ‘specials’ built by enthusiasts in their garage.

Due to the poor state of the road, a technical section was added to the main straight challenging both the driver’s ability as well as the car.

This presented spectators with a great show in car control and a couple instances where drivers ran out of talent and ended in a harmless overshoot or spin.

By the fourth run, Camilleri had confirmed himself as overall champion in his Chevron F3 ahead of Alan Curmi in his J & J 1.

Paul Deguara was third in his Moto Flash single-seater ahead of Nikolai De Giorgio who produced a fine display of bold driving in his Lancia Delta Integrale. The eighth and last event of the season is scheduled for November 8 at Ġnejna.

This is one of the fastest venues in the calendar, that combines high speed flowing curves with a dipped left-right flick down a bridge, culminating in a roaring sprint up one of the island’s steepest hills.