EZY Racing bagful of 17 trophies out of 62

RALLYING: It was a memorable evening for Sri Lanka's Premier Racing Brand EZY Racing, when their rally drivers bagged a load of awards at the Rally Racing Awards held at the Galle Face Hotel recently.

The event was organized jointly by two of the oldest and most respected racing clubs in the country, the Ceylon Motor Sports Club and the Motor Racing Association who successfully organized and managed the Rally races in 2009.

EZY Racing, the racing arm of EZY Computers, Sri Lanka's leading computer brand has been increasingly gaining popularity in the rally racing arena in the recent past for their outstanding efforts on and off the racing track.

EZY Racing who identified the need to reignite motor racing in Sri Lanka, entered the racing arena for the first time in 2009, and tasted success in their inaugural year. EZY Racing driver Rizvi Farouk, who was crowned the 2009 Rally Champion was in outstanding form for his new team (EZY Racing) by winning both Kukuleganga, as well as the Sevanagala Rallies back to back and thereby winning the championship, even though he missed the most important first rally in Pelwatte.

Commenting on this achievement, Farouk went on to say "It's a great feeling to be crowned Sri Lanka's Rally Champion and that too by not participating in one of the rallies. I believe it was a good year for me and the team.

The fact that our back up team was acknowledged as the best back up in the Kukuleganga Rally alone underlines the strength of our team. Although I can be satisfied about my performance in 2009 there is a lot more to achieve this year (2010), since I had an engine failure in the first rally in Pelwatte in January.

As a team, we are currently second in the standings and I believe if we are able to finish our races without any incidents we will definitely be amongst the contenders for the top spot both in the team championship as well as the drivers' championship."

Shafraz Hamzadeen, Group Chief Executive of EZY Holdings (of which EZY Racing is a subsidiary) and Co-Driver for namesake Shafraz Junaid was also an award winner on this night. Commenting on his team's success, Hamzadeen went on to say, "We are in fact humbled to note that our team was able to taste success within our very first year in motor racing. The fact that we won most of the awards that were on offer, underlines how well we have performed during 2009. In 2009, we realized the potential in motor racing; hence we put up a team in a short period of time. We were definitely not the best when we got into it but the fact that we ended as the best in spite of us being a new entrant to the motor racing arena only goes to prove the prowess of our drivers Rizvi, Junaid and Sajaad as well as that of our back up team during the last year."

Hamzadeen further commented "We have great plans for 2010. We incorporated a separate business entity to focus on motor racing in 2010 and we have great plans for the coming years.

Our marketing team is currently working relentlessly to put these plans into action soon. We have also laid out a careful plan to upgrade our cars, provide resources to our drivers, improve their fitness levels and thereby build up a quality racing backup team. Hopefully this will pay rich dividends soon with better performances from our drivers this year. Currently we are ranked 2nd in the team championship for 2010 after just one race and that too without one of our drivers finishing the race. We are hopeful that we would be able to repeat the 2009 results this year too."

The EZY Motor Racing Corporation, which was incorporated in March this year has plans to take Sri Lankan racing to professional lengths. The company's vision is to establish a sought after and admired racing brand for their partners, drivers, employees and other stakeholders while being responsible for producing the best racing team.

With the ability to provide extraordinary results under ordinary circumstances, EZY Racing aims to be the revolution behind changing the dynamics of motor racing in Sri Lanka thus adding value for their potential partners.