The hills surrounding the Kukuleganga Holiday Resort will reverberate with the sound of screaming race engines as more than 20 rapid rally cars will thunder along the twisting tarmac, resuming the second round of the 2009 MRA Rally Championship with the all-tarmac MRA Kukuleganga Rally.

A strong field led by former winner Dinesh Jayewardene and multiple National rally Champion Dinesh Deheragoda will vie for honours on June 20 and 21.

The MRA, the only proponent of FIA-standard closed-course rallying in Sri Lanka, will conduct a minimum of 10 special stages, including three night stages. This year’s Kukuleganga Rally, the only tarmac speed rally held in Sri Lanka, will see the participation of a record number of SL ‘GT’ cars. In addition to Jayewardene (Mitusbishi Lancer Evolution VIII RS) and Deheragoda (Evolution X RS), GT-class veterans such as Reyaz Farook, co-driven by ace navigator Sriomal De Silva (Evolution VII RS), Shantha Suraweera (Subaru Impreza WRX), Shafraz Junaid (Impreza WRX), Rizvi Farouk (Impreza WRX), Janaka Dias (Impreza WRX STi), Pasindu Peiris (Evolution IX GT) and Ameen Deane re-uniting with his former navigator Janaka Gamage in their Toyota Starlet GT will also be out to stamp their authority on the field.

In the SL ‘A’ 1600 class, Javidh Wahab (Honda Civic Type-R) will once again look to repeat his giant-killing efforts at the last two rallies where he finished second overall behind Aravinda Premadasa (Sevenagala 2008) and Deheragoda (Pelwatte 2009) and first in class ahead of more powerful cars. This time he will face strong competition from the fast-improving duo of Nigel Perera (Honda Civic SiR) and Sanjaya Sedara Senarath (Honda Civic Type-R). Others entered in the Honda dominated 1600 class include former class-winner Sajaad Zuhair (Civic SiR), Manish Goonetilleke (Subaru Impreza) and greenhorns Taffy Alahakoon (Honda Civic) and Emdad Hussain (Honda CRX).

In the SL ‘A’ 1050 cc category, Missaka Gamage, driving a Nissan March after a few stints with his Honda Civic SiR and Farzan Najmudeen also driving a Nissan March will take the fight to the Minis of the veterans K. Balasingham and K. Parameswaram. Najmudeen makes his rally driving debut at Kukuleganga after co-driving Goonetilleke at the last two rallies conducted by the MRA.

Deheragoda and co-driver Mushtaq Ahamed will focus on defending their lead in the MRA Rally Championship, having won every title since the inception of FIA-standard speed rallying in Sri Lanka in 2002. Reyaz Farook, having piloted his Evo VII with an Indian navigator at the 2009 Pelwatte rally, will switch back to his Sevenagala co-driver Sriomal De Silva for navigation. De Silva, being a top-notch rally veteran has navigated many top drivers such as Nishan Weerasooriya and Tariq Hassan to multiple victories, including a record-breaking run at Pelwatte with Weerasooriya.

Entry forms are available at the MRA Secretariat at No. 5 Havelock Place, Colombo 5.

With Kukuleganga being only a 90-minute drive from Colombo and with multiple viewing locations available along the designated stages, plenty of spectators are expected to attend.