The third edition of the Tobago Hill-Climb Festival hosted by The Trinidad & Tobago Rally Club (TTRC) in partnership with The Tobago Motorsport Association (TMA), kicked off at the usual location at Lowlands Mall Carpark, Tobago. The driver’s briefing was hosted at Pub House Tobago and Lust Restaurant and Lounge. The competitors’ racing machines were scrutineered for safety, followed by the briefing, where packages and information were given out for the weekend ahead.
Pouring rain met the drivers on Saturday morning at the Belmont Road stage. This was an added sign that the event was going to be packed with excitement for 2024. Both defending champions from the two previous years could not make the trip this year, which meant there would be a new King of the Hill.
Fourteen teams lined up for the start clock. The wet conditions quickly proved difficult on certain sections. Two teams were already out after the first stage due to gearbox issues. The casualties were crowd favourite Roger Hutcheon and defending event Group Four Champion Vyshall Nandlal.
The second stage, also the first competitive stage of the event, saw the battle of the rotaries lose a representative when first-time Hill-Climb competitor Varoun Sookdeo ran off just after the finish in his unique clean-looking Mazda RX7. Team Khan’s Auto “Mr. Sideways” Imran Khan and his new co-driver Sideeqah Khan kept the fans on edge with his usual drift style. Mark Mohammed had the meanest-sounding car for the weekend with his newly built turbocharged RX7.
With conditions favouring the four-wheel drive cars, defending Group A Champions Craig Sumair and Dillion Ali dropped the hammer for the event in their Pioneer sponsored Evolution 9. The team set the fastest time up the Hill for 2024 and won the Group A class with a time of 2:01.
The other car in their class, the team of Stefan Russell and Brian Bhagwandass were in the top five for most of the event but ran off on the last stage. Group Four was the class with the largest number of competitors. Richard Mohammed in his Third generation RX7 won the class on the day and set the second fastest time for the event at 2:07. The third fastest time for the event went to the young and talented Nikhil Nanan who also took first place in Group One in his Yacco sponsored Nissan B13. Mr. Motorsport Tobago’s Ajmal Mustapha won the Group Two class in his Miata after having issues while preparing his Honda Civic for the event.
As is customary the event moved to the Parade Grounds next to the Dwight Yorke Stadium for the third day on Sunday. A head-to-head streetcar shoot-out was the main event. The Hill-Climb competitors ran the NP Ultra Sunday Cup and the day was closed by a drift display and a crowd-pleaser competition.
The Head-to-Head competition results are:
Group 1
1st Place Abdalla Osmond
Group 2
1st Place Mathew Downes
2nd Place Jenakne Stewart 2nd Place Che Greer
3rd Place Chris Ragoobar 3rd Place Tyrell Charlerie
The NP Ultra Sunday Cup was won by Siddeeq Chowtee in his Group Four Evolution 4. Second place was the team of Craig Sumair and Dillion Ali and Third place was Ajmal Mustapha.
We would like to thank Officials, Marshals, Teams, Media and fans for their support of the 2024 Tobago Hill-Climb Festival. A special mention and thanks to the event sponsors NP Ultra Lubricants, STAG, Shell Lubricants, Sheppy’s Auto Rentals Ltd, Sunoco Race Fuels, ADITI Sportline, Yacco Lubricants, Jimmy’s Holiday Resort, KNA Enterprises, PBS Technologies, Pub House Tobago, Lust Restaurant & Lounge, Red Star Logix and Trinituner.com
