Junaid leads EZY Racing’s SLARDAR 1000 bid

Sri Lanka’s rally kings EZY Racing will enter as strong favourites to win the 2012 SLARDAR 1000 rally, considered the epitome of TSD rallying in Sri Lanka, which will be held from 26 to 28 October.

From left: Arshad Kabir (co-driver), Yakub Ariff (driver), Hassan Alaldeen, Shafraz Junaid (driver), and Sabry Salam (co-driver)

The motor racing team which has completed a successful 2012 season is looking forward to another strong performance from their TSD rally team, lead by 2010 Speed Rally Champion and TSD rally stalwart Shafraz Junaid.

Junaid, who is the only successful competitor to have won the coveted Southern Monsoon Rally twice, will go into the 1000km gruelling rally with a new navigator in Sabri Abdul Salami. Junaid, who last won the 2010 Southern Monsoon Rally, will be joined by Yaqoob Aariff who was the runner up in the same rally.

Aariff, together with his navigator Arshad Kabir, has made steady progress as a specialist TSD rally driver since he took up rallying in 2007. With the absence of past winner and EZY Racing team mate Rizvi Farouk, Junaid will be totally focused on inspiring his team to bring home the coveted trophy.

This much-looked-forward-to event which was initiated in 1987 is considered to be the most gruelling and challenging rally, and is being held after a lapse of five long years. The rally which will be flagged off on Friday evening will have 28 competitors passing 60 check points over 1000kms, all of whom will be making every effort to be crowned as Sri Lanka’s Rally King.

EZY’s Shafraz Junaid, developed a passion for rallying following in the footsteps of his father Faizal Junaid and started his rally career at the age of 19, riding his Honda 600CC motorbike at a SLARDAR 1000 in 1998. This will be his fifth SLARDAR 1000 rally.

Juanid, who was the sole motor bike competitor to take part in this gruelling rally for a long time, migrated to four-wheeled vehicles in 2007. He has participated in and won many rallies on both bikes and cars since launching his sporting career 15 years back. As an all round motor racer, Junaid also holds the record for motorbikes for the Mahagasote Hill Climb.

He will drive the EZY Subaru ER3, on which he won the speed rally championship in 2010, for the very first time in TSD format. Junaid’s co drvier for this event is Sabri Abdul Salam, who is an experienced speed rally navigator in both local as well as international rallies. Sabri will be navigating a TSD rally for the very first time and he is a Formula Driver with mechanical knowledge.

Yakub Ariff will be driving his Suzuki Grand Vitara and has many accolades under his belt including the Mobil Ruhunu Motor Rally – June 2008 – Placed 3rd (NRP), CMSC Lotus Motor Rally – August 2008 – Placed 11th (RP), Southern Monsoon Motor Rally – September 2008 – 3rd  (NRP), CMSC Lotus Motor Rally – August 2009 – Placed 12th (RP), Southern Monsoon Motor Rally – October 2009 – Placed 1st (NRP), Southern Monsoon Motor Rally – October 2010 – Placed 2nd (RP), CMSC-MRA Sevanagala Speed Rally – 2010 – Placed 3rd (RP) and the Southern Monsoon Motor Rally – 2011 – Placed 10th (RP).

EZY Racing intends on providing live updates on their Facebook fan page www.facebook.com/ezyracing for their 23,000 motor racing fans.