Shafraz Junaid was crowned the new Rally Champion of Sri Lanka when he outstripped all his rivals and won the Sevanagala Rally and the Championship organized jointly by the MRA and CMSC by driving his car outstandingly well for 22kms in the final stage of the day with a heated radiator and a leaking gasket. Shafraz Junaid and co driver Shafraz Hamzadeen who are also known as Shafraz & Shafraz, entered the rally leading the championship from EZY Racing teammate and defending champion Rizvi Farouk.

Shafraz Junaid the new Rally Champion of Sri Lanka with his co-driver Shafraz Hamzadeen.

The Rally started off at a hectic pace with Rizvi in his EZY Subaru STI VIII (ER9) setting the fastest timing in Stage 1 closely followed by Ashan Silva in his Honda SIR and Shafraz Junaid in his EZY Subaru STI 3 (ER3). Stage 2 saw a charged up Shafraz chasing the ever flying Ashan Silva in a battle where the latter won by a meager 2 seconds.

Rizvi who experienced mechanical issues still managed to finish the stage placed 3rd, 8 seconds behind Junaid. With Rizvi getting stuck in the muddy sugar plantation and Riyaz Farook catching up on Shafraz Junaid, day one ended with Ashan Silva having a clear lead over Junaid and Riyaz Farook catching him up.

On day 2,with the commencement of Stage 4, Ashan Silva yet again was the pace setter with Riyaz Farouk trying his best to catch up with Junaid who experienced issues in the intercooler and had to drive the car heavily underpowered.

Stage 5 saw Rizvi, who till then had experienced a variety of mechanical issues showing his prowess by winning Stage 5, 30 seconds clear of a fighting Javed Wahab. Shafraz finished the stage with the third fastest time ahead of Riyaz Farouk, while a driving error from Ashan saw him not finishing that stage due to a double puncture and this provided Shafraz Junaid with the overall Rally lead.