The Falperra International Hill Climb, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Falperra in Braga, Portugal. The track measures , climbing from the start at km 39 on EN 309 Highway, to the finish at km 44,20, on grades averaging 5%.

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. It is currently contested by a variety of classes of cars, (touring cars, sportscars, single-seaters) and has on average 250 competitors.

History 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.

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. The track was shortened to 2970 m just for the Masters.

Current records 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.

Winners

Before Automóvel Clube do Minho organization Year Driver Car Promoter1st 1927 Alfredo Marinho Júnior Braga Commission2nd 1931 Alfredo Marinho Júnior Automóvel Clube de Portugal1st 1950 José Cabral Allard Automóvel Clube de Portugal2nd 1951 Conde de Monte Real Ford Automóvel Clube de Portugal3rd 1960 José Lampreia Triumph Estrela e Vigorosa SportPromotion by Automóvel Clube do Minho Edition Year Driver Car Time4th 1976 Clemente Ribeiro da Silva Opel2.34.255th 1977 Mário SilvaFord2.31.746th 1978 António BarrosOpel2.32.897th 1979 Alberto GonzálezSEAT2.21.558th 1980 António BarrosPorsche2.18.819th 1981 Joaquim MoutinhoPorsche2.17.6810th 1982 Alberto GonzálezSEAT2.21.6811th 1983 Alberto GonzálezSEAT2.17.6612th Mário SilvaBMW M12.16.1613th António RodriguesLancia 0372.16.7314th 1985 Mauro NestiOsella BMW4.10.71915th 1986 Mauro NestiOsella BMW4.10.80416th 1987 Mauro NestiOsella C4.09.27717th 1988 Mauro NestiOsella C4.07.42218th 1989 Andrés VilariñoLola T2984.07.32319th 1990 Andrés VilariñoLola T298 Repsol4.34.94720th 1991 Andrés VilariñoLola T298 BMW4.02.33621st 1992 Andrés VilariñoLola T298 BMW4.01.20522nd 1993 Rüdiger FaustmannFaust BMW4.00.01423rd 1994 Francisco EgozkueOsella PA94.30.69424th 1995 Rüdiger FaustmannFaust BMW3.56.02425th 1996 Fabio DantiOsella BMW4.57.54326th 1997 Rüdiger FaustmannRemus Faust Opel4.21.31227th 1998 Irlando PasqualeOsella PA204.01.10428th 1999 Franz TschagerLucchini BMW4.40.58529th 2000 Franz TschagerOsella BMW3.55.30030th 2001 Franz TschagerOsella BMW4.07.600 2002–-2009: not held31st 2010 Andrés Vilariño Norma M202.05.90632nd 2011 Fausto Bormolini Reynard K021.57.75433rd 2012 Simone Faggioli Osella FA 301.56.90034th 2013 Simone Faggioli Osella FA 301.51.36535th 2014 Simone Faggioli Norma M20 FC1.50.38636th 2015 Simone Faggioli Norma M20 FC1.49.36437th 2016 Pedro Salvador Norma M20 FC 4.38.15338th 2017 Simone Faggioli Norma M20 FC 1.48.68639th 2018 Simone Faggioli Norma M20 FC 3.38.21940th 2019 Christian Merli Osella FA 30 Zytek 3:35.013Masters 2021 Christian Merli Osella FA 30 Zytek 1:02.03341st 2022 Christian Merli Osella FA 30 Zytek 3:34.50542nd 2023 Christian Merli Osella FA 30 Judd LRM 3:37.84843rd 2024 Christian Merli Osella FA 30 Judd LRM 3:39.86644th 2025 Christian Merli Nova Proto NP01 4:07.11645th 2026 Joseba Iraola Lanzagorta Nova Proto NP01 3:43.495

 — Cumulative time of the 2 best heats.  — The principal contestants from European Championship withdrew due to heavy rain.  — The edition of 2021 received the FIA Hill Climb Masters and the track was shortened to 2970m.

Multiple wins

+DriversWinsDriver6  Simone Faggioli Christian Merli5 Andrés Vilariño 4  Mauro Nesti3 Alberto González Rüdiger Faustmann Franz Tschager2 Alfredo Marinho Júnior Mário Silva António Barros

+ManufacturersWinsManufacturer16 Osella8 Norma/Nova Proto4 Lola3 SEAT Faust2  Ford Opel  Porsche

See also European Hill Climb Championship Hillclimbing Mont Ventoux Hill Climb Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

References

External links Website about Czech and European hill climbs Most complete European Hill Climb Championship race results 1957-today