Shafraz battles for EZY Racing as Deheragoda wins Sevanagala
Auto Force prepared Subaru challenge faster cars on
track:
Defending Rally Champion Shafraz Junaid, co driven by name sake
Shafraz Hamzadeen in the EZY Subaru ER3, prepared by Auto Force, battled
for supremacy with Dinesh Deheragoda all the way down to the last stage
in the second round of Rally Sevanagala organized jointly by the MRA and
CMSC, which was concluded over the weekend in the vicinity of the
Sevanagala Sugar Corporation.
Shafraz, who came into this rally at the back of a luckless rally in
June during the first round of the championship, where he finished 6th
due to a series of misfortunes, showed great determination right from
the start when he won a stage, finishing among the top 3 in every stage
of the rally which comprised of 7 stages, fighting it all the way down
to the last stage with Deheragoda, who eventually won the rally from
Shafraz to lead the championship. Experienced driver Reyaz Farook went
on to win his first podium finish of the year ending third.
Shafraz displaying the Scandinavian flick on his way to win
special stage four |
Shafraz Junaid entertains the crowd with the longest jump
exhibited in the rally |
EZY Racing in its bid to win the 3rd Rally Championship in as many
years went into the Rally with their ace rally drivers Rizvi Farouk,
2009 Rally Champion in his EZY Subaru ER9 and Shafraz Junaid, 2010 Rally
Champion in his EZY Subaru ER3.
Both Rizvi and Shafraz were continuously at the pace setting stage
winning times along with Deheragoda who was racing for Team CIFL along
with team mate Deepthi Perera. EZY Racing, who have set a benchmark in
local Rally racing and professional race backup, were given a terrific
race back up by their Mechanical Partner Auto Force, who had both cars
in prime condition for every stage.
At the completion of day one, Shafraz was in close pursuit of Rally
leader Dinesh when he sent a strong message of his intentions by winning
the last stage of the day with team mate Rizvi Farouk, who was
consistently the fastest in most of the sectors within a stage, lying
3rd.
With 3 more stages to complete the Rally, both Shafraz and Rizvi were
determined to up their pace to challenge the rally leader. Shafraz who
started as car number 1 on day two set an astonishing pace by being the
fastest in sector one and two in the 5th stage (1st stage in day 2)
before a heating radiator forced him to nurse the car to the end of the
stage thereby conceding the stage win to Deheragoda by 7 seconds. Rizvi
who is known for his daredevil driving put up a blistering time during
sector 1 before his car went off the rally track forcing him to retire
from the rally.
"With Rizvi's retirement the onus was on me to bring the team to the
top. With 2 more stages to be completed, we decided to go all out in the
remaining stages. Unfortunately a broken shock forced us to nurse the
car further and be content with 2nd place. This Rally was certainly one
of the fastest I have ever driven. All credit goes to the organizers who
did a commendable job in providing challenging routes for us to drive
on" said Shafraz Junaid after the rally.
"It is not possible to win every rally we participate in, although
people expect EZY Racing to win every rally that takes place. 2nd place
is a very satisfactory performance considering the calibre of the
drivers and the strength of the competitors. We could have definitely
challenged for a much stronger position if we were more aggressive in
the first 2 stages.
We felt we lost a lot in the first stage specially, and there onwards
it was always damage limitation.
However, we have many positives out of this rally, and we will
definitely work on improving our car to be stronger in the coming
rallies."
EZY Racing, who have become Sri Lanka's foremost racing team over the
last 3 years are currently positioned 2nd in the 2011 Sri Lankan Rally
Championship. "It was a mixed weekend for us.
We were in a very strong position to challenge for a victory and
definitely had 2nd and 3rd positions in our bag.
Unfortunately Rizvi had to retire from the race with 3 stages to go,
and we then had to alter our plans of challenging for a win and focus on
carrying maximum points home.
We are a very professional team which has detailed strategies worked
with contingency plans in place.
Given the level of planning we go through, this weekend's performance
was very satisfying. We obviously have to focus on a few loose ends,
which we are sure we will get in place with the next few races to come,"
said Shafraz Hamzadeen Team Principal/ CEO EZY Motor Racing Corporation.
"Personally, I believe Shafraz (Junaid) drove at his absolute best
during this rally.
"Our success would not have been possible without the commitment and
support we received from our mechanical partners Auto Force and Wurth
Lanka who provided us the necessary tools and resources to ensure our
cars were always at its peak."
With the season almost coming to a closure in a few more months,
Hamzadeen said that his team has already set their sights on the 2012
season and the cars and driver line up.
"Although we as a team are well into our plans for 2012, we will
continue to support both Rizvi and Shafraz who are jointly 2nd in the
Rally Championship with all the resources needed to go for their second
Rally Championship." |