The Island Car Club's hillclimb season got underway at Miżieb last Sunday.

After a week's delay due to poor weather conditions, drivers assembled under an overcast sky in the location of Malta's first ever hillclimb to race against the clock, eager to gain valuable points.

Runs started at around 9.30 a.m. with dusty road conditions testing the drivers' ability and resulting in times hovering around the 45-second mark.

Run two showed a marked improvement with most drivers shaving almost two seconds off their previous times as the dust was blown off, giving them extra grip in a faster second section.

The third run proved to be more eventful as drivers pushed their cars further, even though understeer dashed the hopes of some competitors in the final hairpin.

As the last few competitors thundered up the hill, a clear demarcation line was evident between the top three and the rest of the pack.

Joshua Anastasi roared to a blistering 39.290 seconds.

The pressure was now on defending champion Hubert Camilleri who managed to clock an incredible 38.690 seconds.

That time was enough for Camilleri to win the race and also break the previous hill record of 39.066 set by Paul Deguara in 2008.

Anastasi finished second with Zach Zammit third.

The next race from the ICC championship will take place at Ġnejna Hill on Sunday.