Monday Nov 18, 2024
Monday Nov 18, 2024
Tuesday, 6 August 2013 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The black and red team that went into this weekend to compete in the SLH 1600cc event with an ace driver combination of Dilan Seneviratne and 2012 Gunners winner Pasindu Peiris, had a very good qualifying Saturday when Seneviratne put in a flying lap to occupy the pole position from 16-year-old Damith Weerasinghe and Ashan Silva. Pasindu Peiris, who was driving his EZY Honda ER4, managed to qualify fourth on the grid.
In SLH Race 1, Seneviratne managed to get a very good start to go into turn 1, leading the race with Weerasinghe and Ashan Silva. With the race settling in and Seneviratne managing to take a comfortable lead, Ashan was seen engrossed in a stiff battle with the teenage Weerasinghe who managed to stay composed. Ashan, in a desperate effort to overtake the youngster, faulted on his move and was forced to retire from the race as Janaka Dias finished, occupying the third step on the grid.
In the second race, Seneviratne once again lead from pole position to successfully hold off an initial challenge from the youngster and went on to win by a comfortable distance. Pasindu Peiris finished third to provide EZY Racing a two podium finish in the race.
“What a weekend. I am thrilled and at the same time very emotional. Apart from the win in the very first race of the season at Pannala, it has been a very tough season for me which had an overflow of bad luck. But I guess all that changed this weekend right from the word go. It was indeed a special weekend for us. I reckon I can easily classify this as a perfect weekend because we managed to press the right buttons from the word go,” said an elated Seneviratne.
“Saturday’s pole position gave me a lot of confidence that the car was well set up for this track. My sincere thanks to my team EZY Racing, Auto Force, Tuned-I-chips, my family and friends who stood right by me through the hard times, ensuring that it was only a matter of time before I made it to the top again. Hopefully, we can carry all the learning and success of today to finish the season strongly. There are four very important races for the team and I believe what matters is how we complete those races strongly.”
Seneviratne, who is to be a father for the first time later this month, couldn’t have thought of a better gift to take home than the double win.
Commenting on his driver’s first gravel win for the team, Shafraz Hamzadeen, Founder CEO, of EZY Motor Racing Corporation went on state that this double glory was indeed something that has been coming for some time for his team. “It’s been a little while since we tasted double glory in an event. Nevertheless, there could have been no better way to achieve it than the way Dilan did it on track. He has been absolutely wonderful all weekend. I am sure he shocked many of the top runners when he put in a flying lap to occupy the pole position for the race. I believe his race pace and impeccable driving today would only have further underlined his credentials as a very good gravel driver.
“All of us are quite familiar with Dilan’s tarmac performances where he has been an absolute wonder, but on Saturday, he proved his skills on gravel which further substantiates our faith in him being our icon driver for 2013. We strongly believe the confidence and belief he gained today will help him finish the season off strongly and gain the necessary confidence for 2014.”
Hamzadeen further commented that Pasindu Peiris finishing third completed 30 podium finishes for EZY Racing in 2013. “Last year, we finished with 59 podiums, which should be a record for a professional motor racing team. Since then, we changed our approach to motor racing to ensure that we didn’t burn our drivers fast by having them all compete in this gruelling season. Our focus this year was to have a tarmac team, gravel team and a rally team. In this context, the tarmac and gravel teams have performed absolutely well with every driver tasting victory till now.”
EZY Racing will be seen for the first time in the rally arena when it competes in the much anticipated Jaffna Rally to be held in September.
