Will Hall stunned the hillclimbing world by setting a new outright hill record at Shelsley Walsh on the first of Sunday’s two run-offs with a time of 22.33s, the fastest climb ever recorded at the Worcestershire venue.

Later in the day, as ambient temperatures dropped, Hall did it again to complete a perfect weekend. Although the afternoon times were a little slower, his climb of 22.72s was still enough to give him a second run-off victory.

These were two incredibly popular victories for the Midlands driver. In the opening run-off he stunned everyone by bettering the outright hill record set by Sean Gould in August 2021 at 22.37s. On the newly resurfaced Shelsley hill, Hall dipped to a 22.33s to shave four hundredths of a second off this most famous and prestigious of hillclimb records.

In the opening run-off, Matthew Ryder led the chase of Hall at 22.54s as Wallace Menzies also broke the 23s mark with a 22.91s before Trevor Willis had one of his best days at Shelsley with a 23.33s to take fourth.

Later in the day, with the temperature dropping and the threat of rain in the air, Hall ran last and knew that a superb 22.98s climb by David Uren was his target. Sure enough, Hall did it all right and grabbed victory with a 22.72s. Ryder slipped to fourth behind Menzies to make the day’s result even more important for the season-long championship.

Others to feature included Paul Haimes and David Warburton and Jack Cottrill got his 2026 score off the ground with two eighth places in his Dallara. With a big crowd and tremendous competition across all the classes, this was another great day for hillclimbing at its most famous venue. It could also prove to be a very important day in the championship battle, as Hall stemmed Ryder’s run of recent successes.

On his new record, Hall said: “After qualifying on 22.8, I didn’t quite think it was going to be that. And then Matt did 22.54 in the run-off. I don’t like knowing what I’ve got to do, but I just got on and drove it.

“It wasn’t all perfect, but it wasn’t far off. There’s a little bit more I think, into Bottom Ess, but it’s being brave enough to just stay on the throttle later. I just want to keep the record to August. And then it could be another deal as more rubber goes down.

“It is very special as I’ve been coming here all my life: since I was in a push chair. So, I just wish my dad was here to see it.”