Causeway Paints fuels Ashan Silva to regain Fox Hill crown

Thursday, 30 April 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ashan Silva in Action at Fox Hill

Ashan Silva celebrates his victory at Fox Hill Sri Lanka’s top motorcar racer Ashan Silva cemented his position as arguably the best driver in the country by driving his way through the recently concluded Fox Hill Supercross 2015. Ashan was adjudged “Best Driver” for his outstanding performance on a track that has won him many crowns. With 20 championship titles to his name Ashan returned this year to the track he dominated in 2013, and drove adrenaline packed race in the fastest event SL-GT cars up to 3500cc. Ashan had tined his crown as the “Champion Driver” after completing an action-packed drive. Ashan’s dominance on the Foxhill track was even seen at qualifying where he finished with the fastest timing. Commenting on his performance Ashan notes, “Although I qualified with the fastest timing, because four cars did not qualify, the organisers decided to go in for a draw. I was allocated number seven as my starting position which was the only number left. So basically I started the race at the back of the pack. But this did not stop me from outdriving the rest of the competitors.” The SL-GT cars up to 3500cc being the main four-wheel event at the Foxhill Supercross, consisted of 14 top drivers this year, including Missaka Naveen, Janaka Dias, Ishraq Wahab, Pasindu Pieris, Aravinda Premadasa, Dilan Senevirathne, and Rizvi Farook among others. It was conducted in two stages where seven drivers each competed separately and the top six drivers of each stage were then slotted into a deciding final battle for the crown. In the first stage Ashan took an early lead and successfully held on to the position throughout the race while entertaining thousands of spectators. Ashan was able to win the first race, while the second round was won by Missaka Naveen. Although on the final run Ashan was slightly nudged by the car behind him, which turned his car into 90 degrees on the loose gravel, Ashan with his outstanding experience was able to correct himself and hold on to the top spot. With the completion of 10 laps in the final race, Ashan outdrove the others and was able to head to the chequered flag in style. Commenting on his first victory for the season Ashan notes, “Last year posed a lot of challenges for me both on and off the track but I’ve put all of that behind me and look forward to a fresh start this year. We’ve worked hard on the car and while I also mentally and physically prepared myself for this season. It’s an important year for me both professionally and personally as I mark 10 years doing what I love most, which is to race, and to start it off with a victory at Fox Hill is an amazing feeling.” Ashan has been sponsored by Causeway Paints for much of his racing career, and continues to be supported by them owing to his unremitting success on track and course.