Diyatalawa, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka’s foremost motor racing team EZY Racing, were given a winning start for the 2015 season when Sajaad Zuhair resumed business from where he left in 2014 by winning yet another double in his pet event SLH 1600 at the Foxhill Supercross in Diyatalawa.
EZY Racing, who were last seen in action in China where their International driver Dinesh Deheragoda driving the ER88 finished 2nd in the Chinese Rally in the Asia Cup of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, were seen back in action after a 5 month break from motor racing. The Black and Red team who retained their driver duo of Sajaad Zuhair and Dilan Seneviratne for a third successive season were given a perfect return when the duo won 4 podium finishes in 5 races in what is considered to be the glamour grounds of motor racing in Sri Lanka.
Zuhair who was driving the Mobil powered ER 6 in the SLH 1600 and ER 2 in the SLS 1500 events, had a mixed qualifying session on Saturday when he qualified 1st and 4th in both the events. Driving his Honda powered ER 6, Zuhair managed to secure an easy pole position in the 1600 CC event when he was over 1.5 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Damith Weerasinghe on the grid. However, on the SLS 1500 event, he was positioned 4th on the grid for the first time since entering this event way back in September 2013, largely due to a mechanical failure that halted his car after one lap of qualifying. EZY Racer Dilan Seneviratne who entered the SLGT class with an upgraded Mitsubishi Evolution ER 10 , was rather unfortunate that he didn’t get track time during qualifying due to soggy underground conditions after some heavy rain during Saturdays session.
With over 25,000 spectators flocking to watch the season opener of the SLADA championship, Zuhair gave EZY Racing its usual start by converting his pole position into an easy win in race 1of the SLH 1600 event by leading the event from start to finish over Damith Weerasinghe and Upulwan Serasinghe. Zuhair’s dominance of this event over the last 16 months was apparent when he comfortably led the race without being challenged. Zuhair went on to extend his winning streak in the SLH1600 event to 12 consecutive victories when he won the race 2 as well with a similar comfort.
“ It is very encouraging to see where we are standing currently in the SLH 1600 event in the ER2 “ Said Zuhair after the event. “There is a lot of work our performance partners along with the team puts in, to make this happen, and from that standpoint, being able to hold on to our performance is definitely encouraging. In the past we have seen how form tends to slide off when you lose momentum. Therefore we put in a lot of work between races to make sure that we don’t let that momentum fade off. We work hard on not letting complacencies set in and its these efforts that gets translated to victories” said Zuhair further. Speaking further about his 12 consecutive victories, Zuhair went on to state that fortune has favoured him and his team very much, ensuring that unforeseen mechanical challenges have not taken the team by surprise. “You need a huge amount of luck on your side to be able to win back to back on 12 occasions. Its not just the effort. What happened to Dilan (Seneviratne) is a perfect example where he was very unfortunate.. What’s important is that we are able to seize those moments of advantage and create success out of it.”
Seneviratne who had a dream start for the race weekend when took Pole sitter Missaka Naveen into turn 1, in the first race of the SLGT 3500 CC class, was unfortunate to have been handed a stop go penalty for jumping the start lights at the start marginally. Seneviratne who lost about 20 seconds to the leadership fight between Naveen and Aravinda Premadasa , put in 6 laps at qualifying pace to close in on the 20 second gap to the leadership and finish right behind Premadasa to occupy the 3rd step of the podium. In the SLGT 3500 CC Race 2, Seneviratne unfortunately was forced to retire due to a puncture to his left rear tyre while he was strongly contending for yet another podium position.
Commenting on his team’s performance, Team Principal and Founder CEO of EZY Racing, Shafraz Hamzadeen stated “Well its yet another successful race weekend for us. Sajaad (Zuhair) I reckon is on a mission to prove good his gold. His performance over the last 18 months has been phenomenal. His hunger to learn has truly pushed boundaries and it is truly the hallmark of a great driver. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t make it 3 wins for Sajaad, but I’m sure he wouldn’t rest till he bounces back and gets that win on the SLS class in his ER 2. In Dilan, we saw a huge change in his approach to a race weekend. The biggest difference I see in him is his hunger to win. This was demonstrated in both the races, especially in race 2 when he started 6th and climbed himself into 3rd with some daring overtaking manoeuvres.”
Hamzadeen, who has successfully developed a racing brand in EZY Racing, further spoke of his teams 2015 plans “In the past we haven’t gone behind championships of a single organizer. We have tried to maintain a balance in how we entertain our fans from across Sri Lanka. This year we intend on entertaining our fans in 6 locations across the country which will be mostly rural through the SLADA championship. Our focus will remain in the 3 fastest racing categories which are SLS, SLH and SLGT classes through our established driver duo”
