Veteran Brincat shines in Mizieb

Veteran hillclimb ace Lino Brincat, driving his Dallara Alfa Romeo, won Sunday's opening round of the ICC Hillclimb and Sprint Championship, held in Mizieb.

Brincat, now nearing pensionable age, was in a class of his own and dominated the day's proceedings from run one.

The Mizieb races, as usual, attracted a good and varied entry, which included 10 single-seaters and a good number of Group 5, 2 and 1 cars.

Proceedings started right on time at 9 a.m. when official Alex Zammit signalled the start of the first car, Frank Tonna's interesting Group 5 Mini 1400.

By 11 a.m. both practice runs had been completed and the 50 cars lined up for their first timed run.

It was immediately clear that Brincat maintained the form he had shown in the closing round of the 2007 championship and was heading the time sheets with relative ease.

Behind him, the usual battle raged on between former champion Hubert Camilleri (Chevron Cosworth 2000), cousins Matthew and Zach Zammit, Joshua Anastasi, Steve Zammit Cutajar, Paul Deguara and other aspirants for an outright win.

However, at the end of the first timed run it was the old fox Brincat who was first by over 1.5 seconds from Camilleri with Zammit a very close third.

The final run is the one that matters most and practically all drivers improve their time. Brincat, again, improved slightly, as did Camilleri while Zammit made a slight mistake at the last hairpin and Anastasi was rewarded for three days of hard work when he trimmed another second off his previous time to claim second place overall, with Camilleri a very close third.

Mark Galea was quickest of the touring cars, mixing it with the single seaters in his Subaru Impresa WRX. Other performances worthy of a mention were those of David Libreri, Duncan Barbaro Sant, David Anastasi, Aldo Laferla, and newcomer Terrence Vella.

The next round of the championship is due to take place shortly after Easter at Gnejna where the battle will be resumed.