The first edition of the Ecce Homo race dates back to the year 1905. Admittedly, the course is not the same as the original one, but the motor sport tradition and the passion of the town of Sternberk for the competition are still going strong more than a century later. Very few events today can boast such a long and varied history. Ecce Homo has featured on the programme of the European Hill Climb Championship since 1981, and so was celebrating its 35^th edition at this level.

No surprises that Italian Simone Faggioli (Norma M20FC Evo Zytek) dominated each of the timed climbs, both in practice and in the race. Faggioli’s name now appears in the list of winners of this event for the 7^th consecutive time.

On home turf, the Czech drivers put in a remarkable overall performance. Milos Benes (Osella FA30 Zytek) came in second in the general classification, but most importantly he was victorious in E2-SS, succeeding this time in holding back the Formula 3000s of Fausto Bormolini (Reynard K02) and Sébastien Petit (Lola B06/51). Petit was participating at Sternberk for the first time, but engine troubles throughout practice got in the way while he familiarised himself with the course.

Albeit some way behind the elusive Faggioli, David Komarek, Dusan Neveril and Vaclav Janik (all in Norma M20s) battled it out to claim the runner-up positions in Group E2-SC, but Komarek came out on top, even managing to get between Bormolini’s and Petit’s F.3000s.

In E2-SH, victory hung in the balance right up until the finish of the very last climb. Dan Michl and his Lotus Evora V8 finally emerged triumphant by less than six tenths of a second from their tussle with Vladimir Vitver and his Audi WTTR-DTM. The third place in the Group went to Marek Rybnicek (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 600).

In Category 1, Jaromir Maly conquered Group A at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 while Peter Vojacek mastered Group GT with his Ferrari 430 GT3. Jiri Los (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) achieved the most impressive feat of the day in knocking the defending champion, Macedonian Igor Stefanovski (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9), off the top spot. Despite this, Stefanovski maintains a comfortable lead in the provisional championship classification, with 32 points over Maly.

The next event of the Championship will be contested in Limanova, Poland, on 20 and 21 June.