CEAT racing team to storm the track on CEAT radials

The performance credentials of CEAT radial tyres are to be tested in the most gruelling conditions – the race track – by four of the country’s leading competition drivers.

Members of the CEAT racing team raring to go

The tyre maker has announced that Nishan Wasalathanthri, W. A. G. Rangana, Kamil Hussein and Lt. Colonel Duminda Jayasinghe have been selected as the founder members of the CEAT Racing Team that will compete at gravel and tarmac racing events to be conducted in Sri Lanka in 2012.

They will use CEAT radials exclusively at all tarmac events that they race in, and their cars will be in the distinctive CEAT livery, the company said.

CEAT has also signed up top motorcycle racer Gayan Sandaruwan as the fifth member of the CEAT racing team, which hopes to register to be in contention for the 2013 team championship of the Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders (SLARDAR).

 “CEAT has been closely associated with motor sports in Sri Lanka for several years as a sponsor, and the formation of the CEAT Racing Team represents an exciting new phase in our involvement,” said Ravi Dadlani, Vice President Sales and Marketing at CEAT Kelani Holdings. “Besides the implicit endorsement of confidence in our tyres by four experienced racing drivers, it also provides an opportunity for CEAT to demonstrate the capabilities of its radials in no uncertain terms.”

CEAT’s support to motor racing in Sri Lanka has also resulted in an increase in entries for two race categories, the Ford Laser/Mazda 1300cc and 1500cc racing events at four tarmac meets, three hill climbs and three road races, Mr. Dadlani disclosed. These events have been designated as ‘one-make’ races by Sri Lanka Automobile Sports (SLAS) following CEAT’s offer to provide free tyres to drivers who register to compete in a minimum of five races during the year.

Already, 17 drivers have registered and availed themselves of this offer, and will drive on CEAT radials in the 10 race meets covered by the agreement between CEAT Kelani and SLAS – the Radella Hill Climb, Mahagasthota Hill Climb, Eliyakanda Hill Climb, Kandy Night Race, Colombo Night Race, Nuwara Eliya Road Race, Rotherham Katukurunda and three tarmac racing events on the Pannala race track.

CEAT is the highest-selling single brand in Sri Lanka’s radial tyre market. CEAT Kelani Holdings was the title sponsor of the CEAT-SLARDAR Championships of 2010 and 2011 and also supported the Fox Hill, Cavalry, Gajaba and Gunners Supercross events, the Sigirya Rally and the Rotherham Circuit Meet last year as a co-sponsor.