The final round of the EZIUP AND GO Victorian Hill Climb Championship (VHCC) saw plenty of action across a competitive weekend at One Tree Hill in Ararat. 
 
The most challenging event on the VHCC calendar, 88 drivers competed across the 1450-metre course in the final instalment of the championship.
 
Mirko Grbic claimed the outright victory with an impressive time of 40.20 seconds, only taking part in the last four runs of the weekend while also managing a first-place finish in the C5 Time Attack class. 
 
David Harris had a successful weekend, placing second outright and improving his pace across all eight runs, finishing at 41.76 seconds.
 
Harris’ progress enabled him to also place first in the C4 Sports Sedan 4wd class. 


 
Damien Brand finished third outright with a final time of 42.04 seconds after completing six runs of the circuit, leaving Grbic and Harris in their respective positions. 
 
Zachary Hanlin finished in fourth after a completing a challenging final run in a time of 1:10.08 – the slower run prevented Halin from improving his building speed, resulting in a final time of 42.77 seconds. 
 
In Car 6, James Callanhan showed a positive turn around over the weekend, beginning his campaign with a time of 49.52 seconds and finishing the eighth run in 43.08 seconds. 
 
Callahan placed eighth outright, missing out on seventh place by 0.02 of a second and falling just behind Andrew Campbell. 
 
Andrew Campbell was able to secure first place for his class, C3 Sports Sedan Over 2001cc, with a time of 43.06 seconds. 


 
Nathaniel Kutchel just missed out on a top 10 finish due to a significantly slower time of 48.82 seconds in the last run. 
 
This put Kutchel at a 10-second disadvantage compared to his competitor Glenn Latter, who was able to improve his pace in the last run to 43.27 seconds.  
 
Further down the field, Christopher Hortop and Cohen Hamilton maintained a tight rivalry throughout the entire event before – Hortop finished just 0.02 quicker than Hamilton.
 
This event wrapped up the 2024 Victorian Hill Climb Championship, with more information about the season results to come soon. 
 
Motorsport Australia Victorian Hill Climb Advisory Panel spokesperson John Read on was pleased to see the growth in this year’s championship.
 
“Our thanks to everyone who competed in the championship this year,” Read said.
 
“Participation in this year’s championship was well up on the post COVID years with an average of 92 competitors at each round - a wonderful result.
 
“We are currently planning the schedule for next year and will announce that soon.”
 
More racing will take place later this year with the Australian Hill Climb Championship at Bryant Park on 24-27 October.
 
All details on the AHC can be found via the Gippsland Car Club Facebook, while entries are now open for the 2024 Motorsport Australia Hill Climb Championship.