Falperra International Hill Climb
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Location | Braga, Portugal 41.53274 N, 8.394082 W |
|---|---|
| First race | 1927 |
| Distance | 5200 m |
| Most wins (driver) |  Simone Faggioli (6) |
| Circuit information | |
| Surface | Tarmac |
| Lap record | 1:46.944 ( Christian Merli, Osella FA 30, 2019, Cat. II (D/E2-SS)) |
The Falperra International Hill Climb, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Falperra in Braga, Portugal. The track measures 5.2 kilometres (3.2 mi), climbing 262 m (860 ft) from the start at km 39 on EN 309 Highway, to the finish at km 44,20, on grades averaging 5%.[1]
The race is on the FIA European Hill Climb Championship Events Calendar and features on both Portugal and Spain National Hill Climb Championships. It has taken place since 1927, being the most popular Hill Climb race in Portugal, with 200.000 spectators per edition.[2] It is currently contested by a variety of classes of cars, (touring cars, sportscars, single-seaters) and has on average 250 competitors.
Current records
The first running of the Falperra Hill Climb was promoted by a local commission from Braga in 1927. The second edition has held in 1930 by the Automóvel Clube de Portugal, ACP (Portugal Automobile Association).
The competition was resumed in 1950 by the ACP, who named the 1950 edition as Falperra First Hill Climb, and all subsequent editions are accounted from the 1950 event onwards.[3][4]
In 1976, the Automóvel Clube do Minho (Minho Automobile Association) assumed the organization of the race and applied for international competition status. FIA integrated the event in their European Championship in 1978. Since then, all of the Falperra Hill Climbs were part of an FIA international calendar with the exception of the first race of 1984, in which there were two races that year: one in May for the national championship, and another in September for the European Championship.
In 2002, due to a lack of understanding between local authorities on how to improve track safety, the event wasn't held until 2010, the year in which those improvements were implemented.
In 2013, the event was in risk of not being held again, but due to pressure applied by the Falperra HC supporters in social networks, the Braga city hall implemented the safety improvements requested by FIA that same year.
Falperra International Hill Climb was chosen by FIA to receive the FIA Hill Climb Masters in 2020, but due to COVID–19 pandemic concerns, the event was postponed until 2021.[5] The track was shortened to 2970 m just for the Masters.[6]
The current record was set in 2019 by Italian driver Christian Merli, at the wheel of an Osella FA 30, with the time of 1:46.944, beating the record established by himself in the previous year of 1:47.890, also at the wheel of the same Osella FA 30.[7]
Winners
| Before Automóvel Clube do Minho organization | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edition | Year | Driver | Car | Promoter |
| 1st | 1927 |  Alfredo Marinho Júnior | Braga Commission | |
| 2nd | 1931 | Alfredo Marinho Júnior | Automóvel Clube de Portugal | |
| 1st | 1950 | José Cabral | Allard | Automóvel Clube de Portugal |
| 2nd | 1951 | Conde de Monte Real | Ford | Automóvel Clube de Portugal |
| 3rd | 1960 | José Lampreia | Triumph | Estrela e Vigorosa Sport |
| Promotion by Automóvel Clube do Minho | ||||
| Edition | Year | Driver | Car | Time |
| 4th | 1976 | Clemente Ribeiro da Silva | Opel | 2.34.25 |
| 5th | 1977 | Mário Silva | Ford | 2.31.74 |
| 6th | 1978 | António Barros | Opel | 2.32.89 |
| 7th | 1979 |  Alberto González | SEAT | 2.21.55 |
| 8th | 1980 | António Barros | Porsche | 2.18.81 |
| 9th | 1981 | Joaquim Moutinho | Porsche | 2.17.68 |
| 10th | 1982 |  Alberto González | SEAT | 2.21.68 |
| 11th | 1983 | Alberto González | SEAT | 2.17.66 |
| 12th | 1984 | Mário Silva | BMW M1 | 2.16.16 |
| 13th | 1984 | António Rodrigues | Lancia 037 | 2.16.73 |
| 14th | 1985 | Mauro Nesti | Osella BMW | 4.10.7191 |
| 15th | 1986 | Mauro Nesti | Osella BMW | 4.10.8041 |
| 16th | 1987 | Mauro Nesti | Osella C | 4.09.2771 |
| 17th | 1988 | Mauro Nesti | Osella C | 4.07.4221 |
| 18th | 1989 | Andrés Vilariño | Lola T298 | 4.07.3231 |
| 19th | 1990 | Andrés Vilariño | Lola T298 Repsol | 4.34.9471 |
| 20th | 1991 | Andrés Vilariño | Lola T298 BMW | 4.02.3361 |
| 21st | 1992 | Andrés Vilariño | Lola T298 BMW | 4.01.2051 |
| 22nd | 1993 |  Rüdiger Faustmann | Faust BMW | 4.00.0141 |
| 23rd | 1994 | Francisco Egozkue | Osella PA9 | 4.30.6941 |
| 24th | 1995 | Rüdiger Faustmann | Faust BMW | 3.56.0241 |
| 25th | 1996 | Fabio Danti | Osella BMW | 4.57.5431 |
| 26th | 1997 | Rüdiger Faustmann | Remus Faust Opel | 4.21.3121 |
| 27th | 1998 | Irlando Pasquale | Osella PA20 | 4.01.1041 |
| 28th | 1999 | Franz Tschager | Lucchini BMW | 4.40.5851 |
| 29th | 2000 | Franz Tschager | Osella BMW | 3.55.3001 |
| 30th | 2001 | Franz Tschager | Osella BMW | 4.07.6001 |
| 2002–-2009: not held | ||||
| 31st | 2010 | Andrés Vilariño | Norma M20 | 2.05.906 |
| 32nd | 2011 | Fausto Bormolini | Reynard K02 | 1.57.754 |
| 33rd | 2012 | Simone Faggioli | Osella FA 30 | 1.56.900 |
| 34th | 2013 | Simone Faggioli | Osella FA 30 | 1.51.365 |
| 35th | 2014 | Simone Faggioli | Norma M20 FC | 1.50.386 |
| 36th | 2015 | Simone Faggioli | Norma M20 FC | 1.49.364 |
| 37th2 | 2016 | Pedro Salvador | Norma M20 FC | 4.38.1531 |
| 38th | 2017 | Simone Faggioli | Norma M20 FC | 1.48.686 |
| 39th | 2018 | Simone Faggioli | Norma M20 FC | 3.38.2191 |
| 40th | 2019 | Christian Merli | Osella FA 30 Zytek | 3:35.0131 |
| Masters | 2021 | Christian Merli | Osella FA 30 Zytek | 1:02.0333 |
| 41st | 2022 | Christian Merli | Osella FA 30 Zytek | 3:34.5051 |
| 42nd | 2023 | Christian Merli | Osella FA 30 Judd LRM | 3:37.8481[8] |
| 43rd | 2024 | Christian Merli | Osella FA 30 Judd LRM | 3:39.8661[9] |
- ^1 — Cumulative time of the 2 best heats.
- ^2 — The principal contestants from European Championship withdrew due to heavy rain.[10]
- ^3 — The edition of 2021 received the FIA Hill Climb Masters and the track was shortened to 2970m.
