Suzuki collects silverware at Simola Hillclimb

The Suzuki Swift Sport team dominated at the 2023 Simola Hillclimb, with two of their three drivers standing on the podium at the finish line.

Wesley Greybe led the Suzuki pack for most of Saturday’s practice and qualifying rounds and during Sunday’s qualifying rounds and class finals. He set a class final time of 1:00.809 on a wet track and earned his place on the podium.

He competed in class A1 for standard production sports cars with forced induction and two-wheel drive.

Prior to this last run in the rain, Greybe had set a best time of 54.395 during one of the qualifying rounds on a dry track.

“I knew that we could do faster times than last year. While the car remained unchanged, we had a better understanding of the ideal tyre pressures and racing lines. This meant that we could start competing for the class final from the very first run,” Greybe said.

In 2022, Greybe set his best time behind the wheel of a manual Swift Sport and set a top time of 55.709. This year he swapped it for an automatic one. Reuben van Niekerk, who drove the automatic Swift Sport, set a final time of 55.901.

“With the automatic transmission, you can flick between gears using the paddles behind the steering wheel, or you can leave the transmission to change gears automatically. This helps when you are pushing all out at the upper end of the Hillclimb and you would rather keep your focus on the road and your racing line,” he added.

“This just goes to show how sorted the Swift Sport is. You can comfortably choose between the manual and the auto without fear that you will compromise the vehicle’s sporty nature. It comes down to personal preference,” Greybe said.

Sudhir Matai opted for the manual Swift Sport for his campaign at the 2023 Simola Hillclimb, and he borrowed the Suzuki Auto managing director’s company car for the weekend.

“I took some time to get settled behind the wheel and perfect my start sequence. If you are too eager on the throttle, your wheels spin all the way to second gear. That can cost you valuable seconds in this form of racing,” Matai said.

By the end of the qualifying laps, his best time was 55.237 seconds.

“Our last run of the Hillclimb was also the first one in the rain, and you had to try and push as hard as possible, while negotiating the new conditions,” he said.

Matai completed his run in 1:02.667 for third place in Class A1. Greybe earned second place with his time.

The class was won by Deon Joubert in the new 2023 Honda Civic Type-R.

Earlier in the day, Kumbi Mtshakazi completed his campaign with a top qualifying time of 56.091 seconds, and this was his first-ever racing event.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better sports car in which to start my racing career. It is so easy to go fast in this hot hatchback, because the direct steering and well-tuned chassis is so communicative and give you the confidence to push harder with every run,” Mtshakazi said.

Devin Robertson competed in class C5 with his Radical SR1. It is custom-built, fitted with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine. His best time was 40.794 seconds.

In a return for Megan Verlaque, her Speedcar Extreme was fitted with a 1 000cc Suzuki motorcycle engine and her final time was 44.710 seconds.

Chelsy Pinto, product planning and sales development co-ordinator for Suzuki Auto and team manager for the 2023 Suzuki Swift Sport team at Simola, had the last say. “This is exactly what we wanted to achieve with our three-car team at the 2023 Simola Hillclimb. We mixed manual and automatic transmissions and chose drivers with different levels of experience and they all finished the weekend within a whisker of each other.”

Source: MotorPress

Photos: Rob Till