The 2nd Saliente hill climb makes its mark in Albox: 60 entrants and wins for Clemente, Perea and Ramírez

Engines roared once again on the road to the Santuario de la Virgen del Saliente. Over the weekend, Albox hosted the 2nd Subida Albox-Santuario Virgen del Saliente (the hill climb from Albox to the Virgen del Saliente sanctuary), the sixth scoring round of the 2026 Andalusian Hill Climb Championship, which ended with wins for Miguel Ángel Clemente in touring cars, Esteban Perea in single-seaters and Juan Manuel Ramírez in the Car Cross Cup, according to the report by the Andalusian Motorsport Federation.

And the hill climb came back stronger than ever. Organised by Motor Club Balcón del Almanzora with the support of, among others, Albox Town Council and Almería Provincial Council, it brought together 60 entrants, compared with 39 at the first edition, held in 2025. It was contested over a 3.8-kilometre course on the AL-7100 road and, as well as the Andalusian championship, it counted towards the Murcia Hill Climb Championship, the Almería Provincial Council Cup and the Car Cross Cup.

The winners, category by category

• Touring cars: Miguel Ángel Clemente Hatero (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) won by five seconds from José Antonio Aznar Sánchez, winner of the first edition, and José Francisco Benítez Ramos (Renault 5 GT Turbo) completed the podium 8.5 seconds back.
• Single-seaters: Esteban Perea Oriola (Silver Car S3) set the highest average speed of the weekend, 96.64 kilometres per hour, ahead of David Cánovas Hidalgo (Talex M3) and Daniel Navarro Abellán (Silver Car S1).
• Car Cross Cup, the closest battle: Juan Manuel Ramírez Martínez (MV Racing MV I) beat Salvador Molina Nereo (Speedcar Xtrem) by just 37 thousandths of a second, with Pedro Cordero Infantes (Yacar Cross) in third place. Ramírez also added the win in the Almería Provincial Council Cup.
• Women’s classifications: Alba María Camacho Beret (MV Racing Pro XC) was the fastest in Car Cross and María Isabel Peñas Giménez (Citroën Saxo VTS) in touring cars.

Next stop, Lanjarón

The Andalusian Hill Climb Championship will continue on 11 and 12 July with the Subida a Lanjarón-Cerro de los Cañones (Lanjarón–Cerro de los Cañones hill climb), in Granada. For Albox, the second edition confirms the growth of an event that has gone from 39 to 60 entrants in just one year and that already has its own place in the regional calendar.

From elValle Actualidad, we can only celebrate that motorsport has found a fixture of its own at the Saliente, here in our land. Congratulations to the winners and to the whole organising team!