The Island Car Club (ICC) recently joined forces with the Malta Drag Racing Association to stage the opening round of the Grimaldi Lines Hillclimb and Sprint Championship in Ħal-Far.

In all, there was a full paddock of 51 drivers who took part in the various categories, from classic to standard road cars and single-seaters, on a day when €23,000 in funds were raised as the racing series was part of the Mario Mifsud-organised ‘MDRA for Charity – Solidarity through Motorsport 2015’.

The start-line was situated just off the Għar Ħasan car park. Once off through the winding roads in the industrial estate, drivers had to deal with three chicanes and eight apexes before the finish line at the quarter-mile track – a distance of almost 1.8km.

Keith Camilleri clocked the best time of the day at 66.376 seconds inside his UPS-Logistics Radical Prosport.

Camilleri, the reigning champion, made clear his intentions to run another highly-charged championship as he was nearly two seconds quicker than Mark Micallef, the runner-up at Ħal-Far.

Micallef’s time inside his Avon & Fiamm Radical ProSport was 68.158 seconds.

Fabio Baldacchino (Tony’s Bar OMS-200M) was third in 68.674 seconds.

Teddy Aquilina produced the best performance in the category for veteran drivers, achieving a remarkable 78.298 seconds in his black SR1, ranking 13th overall on the day.

Elsewhere, Jeremy Cassar (Golf GTi) came out tops in the front-wheel car section, also placing 14th overall after an audacious final drive which put him ahead of Michael Micallef (Honda Civic).

John Zammit was also impressive with his Lotus Elise, posting the seventh best time in Run Three and fastest for the rear-wheel drive saloon cars. He was followed by Edward Calleja (Lotus Elise).

Anthony Bernard (Mitsubishi Evo6) was fastest in the four-wheel drive series, posting a time fast enough to slip past Charles Grech in his Subaru Impreza and 15th place on the list.

Meanwhile, the Classic Car Series was dominated by newcomer Mick Hay and his Fisher Fury. Clifford Debono (Triumph Vitesse) was the runner-up.

The next round from the ICC Championship is scheduled for Sunday at Mtaħleb.

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