The Island Car Club held its second round of racing from the 2016-17 Hillclimb Championship at Xagħra, Gozo, last weekend.

The weather was tolerably warm but road conditions proved to be slippery in the opening two practice runs. However by the third run, most of the 54 competitors were quickly shaving seconds off their previous best times for the day.

The fastest driver and overall winner was Mark Micallef in his Avon turbo-charged Radical, stopping the clock at an impressive 48.613 seconds.

Zach Zammit, inside his Urban Jungle Empire Evo, was the runner-up after managing a time of 49.222secs as defending champion Keith Camilleri (Fracht Malta Radical) settled for third after clocking 49.351secs.

The fastest front-wheel drive time was the one achieved by Didier Bugeja in his Group 3 Snow White Market Peugeot 106, crossing the line in 56.425secs, as Noel Galea took the honours for fastest RWD in his impressively-built Bardahl Oil Ford Escort Mk2 – 53.872secs.

Steve Baldacchino won the fastest 4WD class with his Subaru Impreza (57.821secs) and the top veteran driver on the day was Teddy Aquilina in his highly modified Ford Escort Cosworth (57.879secs).

The Classic Cars section also had its fair share of close competition.

At the end of the day, Mark Borg (Alfa GTA) was quickest of the classics and Andrea Scicluna took the honours for Autocross.

The third round of the hillclimb series will be at Ġnejna on November 13.