The CEAT Racing Team for 2016 comprises of stalwarts Upulwan Serasinghe, Janaka Dias, Pasindu Peiris, Lalin Kirinda, Prasanna De Alwis, Lt. Colonel Duminda Jayasinghe, Lt. Colonel Indu Samarakoon and Ushan Perera and newcomers Malika Kuruvitarachchi, Gayantha Rangana, Evon B. Gurusinghe and Deshan Solanki.
The team will race under CEAT colours at the five race meets to be conducted by the Sri Lanka Auto-sports Drivers Association (SLADA) for the 2016 CEAT SLADA Championship.
The five race meets are the Katukurunda Circuit Meet I (20th March), the Foxhill Supercross (24th April), Sigiriya Rallycross (5th June), Gunners Supercross (10th July) and Rotherham Circuit Meet II (23rd October).
Speaking at the formal signing of team contracts, Ravi Dadlani, Vice President Sales & Marketing at CEAT Sri Lanka said 2016 marks the tenth year of CEAT’s involvement with motor racing in Sri Lanka and the seventh year that the brand has taken title sponsorship of the annual championship as a partner of the association of drivers and riders.
“We see a lot of synergy between the CEAT brand, which represents a high performance product, and our support for racing,” he said, pointing out that the race meets also provide an opportunity for CEAT’s radial tyres to be tested in gruelling conditions at the ‘one-make’ races in three categories.
The CEAT Racing Team won the Team Championship for Cars for a second successive year in 2015 with a total of 61 podium finishes, accounting for the one two top laurels at the CEAT SLADA Championship awards, with which the motor racing season culminates every year.
Besides its sponsorship of the CEAT SLADA Championship CEAT supports the race meets conducted by the Sri Lanka Army and the Sri Lanka Air Force, as well as the sport’s governing body Sri Lanka Automobile Sports (SLAS).
As part of its partnership with SLAS, CEAT Kelani Holdings is the principal sponsor of all Ford Laser/Mazda 1300cc and 1500cc ‘one-make’ racing events conducted during the year, at which all competing drivers race on CEAT radial tyres.
A global tyre brand present in 110 countries and now headquartered in India, CEAT is an acronym that stands for Cavi Electrici Affini Torino, or Electrical Cables & Allied Products of Turin, with origins that date back to 1924 in Italy.
CEAT Sri Lanka manufactures half of the country’s pneumatic tyre requirements, and CEAT is the highest selling radial tyre brand in the country.
Photo caption : Representatives of the management of CEAT Sri Lanka with members of the CEAT Racing Team for 2016.