Foxhill Supercross 2010 action:

Sajaad Zuhair triumphs for EZY at Foxhill

Rain denies Farouk of a strong finish:

Sri Lanka's Premier Racing Brand EZY Racing who recently set about redefining Sri Lankan Motor Racing, were given an outstanding start on their new drive by the experienced Sajaad Zuhair during the recently concluded Foxhill Super Cross.

With rain clouds hovering over the Foxhill track on Saturday EZY Racing was eagerly looking forward to a competitive race in the 1600CC category. With Sajaad having the faster car of the two, the team decided to position Sajaad on an attacking mode on the pole driver, while Farouk would closely follow.

Experienced Driver Sajaad Zuhair achieved his first finish on the top step of the podium for the 2010 EZY Racing Team in Diyatalawa on Saturday, capping a strong weekend at the "Lords" of Sri Lankan motor racing, FOXHILL. Starting from the second on the grid in the Group SL-H Cars up to 1600CC , Sajaad drove a very strong and composed race to the chequered flag, overtaking Pole Driver Pasindu Peiris to secure first place.

Strong contenders

EZY Racing, Sri Lanka's Premier Motor Racing brand went into Saturday's race at Foxhill as strong contenders for both the SL-H car class as well as the SL-GT super car class.

The computer manufacturer who recently entered a new sphere of business by setting up EZY Motor Racing Corporation, had a satisfying qualifying session on Friday with their drivers Zuhair and Farouk qualifying 2nd and 3rd on the grid respectively.

Zuhair participating in the SL-H cars up to 1600 CC, took to the Foxhill track after a lapse of 2 years, while 2009 Rally Champion Rizvi Farouk, also participated in this class after a lapse of 4 years.

Farouk also managed to qualify for his first front row start in his championship winning EZY Subaru STI 8 by securing 3rd place on the grid, closely behind Pasindu Pieris and and Aravinda Premadasa.

Slow start

Zuhair who was off to a slow start, braked very late into the first corner to get into the bumper of Pieris. Farouk who by this time had settled behind Zuhair was unfortunately hit from the rear on the very first corner, making his car spin and fall into a ditch, thus providing a premature ending to a potential podium finish.

Zuhair, who got his rhythm while coming out of the first corner almost kissed Pieris's rear bumper all the way through the first lap before hunting him down and overtaking the race leader early into the second lap.

Pieris who initially tried to fight back to regain his position had to settle into second place before retiring with engine failure later on. With Farouk and Pieris both retiring from the race, Zuhair eased off on the pedal from lap 3 to drive a smooth race all the way to the chequered flag.

After the race, Zuhair dedicated the result to the team: "I want to thank the whole team for all their hard work this weekend. This result is the start of the reward for our efforts. It's a fantastic result to achieve our team's first podium at FOXHILL, which is considered to be the Mecca of Sri Lankan Motor Racing. It's a great feeling to be back up on the podium again and this is a great end to a strong weekend for us. We're not quite where we want to be yet so we need to push on but I'm confident that we'll get there soon. It is quite unfortunate that Rizvi (Farouk) had to retire early, if not we would have had a perfect weekend".

Rizvi who was also participating in the Group SL-GT cars up to 3500CC which is also referred as Super Cars was strongly placed 3rd on the grid and had a strong chance of having his first podium finish in the super car category ; it was quite unfortunate that the rain interrupted and the race had to be called off due to extremely dangerous track conditions.

" I was quite eagerly looking forward to the battle in the Super Cars. My car had some technical issues on Thursday and the team worked the entire night, right upto Friday noon, even removing the gear box twice.

Qualifying round

This deprived me of having a practice run. However, I was so happy to see my car brought in on time for the qualifying round and I dedicate the 3rd place on the grid to my fantastic team without whom I wouldn't have had the opportunity to participate in the race", said Farouk.

Commenting on this feat Shafraz Hamzadeen, Chief Executive EZY Racing stated " First of all I want to compliment the support crew, who did an amazing job in having Rizvi's (Farouk) car ready on time.

As for strategy choices, we knew Sajaad was faster, therefore Rizvi was going to allow Sajaad to challenge the race leader and he was going to follow through. Sajaad drove a stunning drive and gave us the glimpse of his well known driving style while Rizvi as usual was faster than his car.

It was quite unfortunate to see Rizvi knocked from the rear which subsequently made him retire even before he could come out of the first corner. Sajaad was simply amazing and the manner in which he overcame the slow start he had, just shows the composure he has as a professional driver".

Hamzadeen further went on to state that his team was already looking forward to next weekend's Hill Climb Races and hoped that their drivers could repeat the success formula once again.

EZY Racing, whose objective is to sign up with the best drivers and provide them the necessary resources to be the best, proved once again that their drivers who are considered the best in their respective racing classes can make EZY Racing the best team on the racing grid.