Turkish Flag on the Podium in Italy

At the weekend, in the opening race of the Italian 3H Endurance Champions Cup at Italy's Mugello circuit, Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport finished second overall, while the Gedik Ebam Motorsport drivers took third overall.

In a race filled with fierce competition from start to finish, BOM drivers Aytaç Biter, Levent Kocabıyık and Fatih Ayhan set the best time in their group in qualifying, earning pole position in the Gold category. The three-hour non-stop race at Italy's Mugello circuit, in which each driver spent around an hour behind the wheel, attracted 13 teams and 33 drivers from three countries.

At the start, the race's three leading contenders entered the first corner side by side, and the resulting contact left all three cars damaged. One car retired, while a second had to return to the pits for repairs. BOM was the luckiest of the teams, but Aytaç Biter still had to come through the pits on lap 10, handing the race lead to the Swiss team. Over the following laps Aytaç Biter mounted a huge charge, lapping around two seconds a lap quicker than the rival and closing the gap. However, on lap 19 a safety car came out while the rival team was making its pit stop, changing the entire complexion of the race. BOM, fighting for the lead, pitted on the lap after the safety car was deployed, but lost around 30 seconds to the rival ahead, who had pitted earlier. Levent Kocabıyık rejoined in second, 34 seconds behind the rival, and pushed the car to its limits to cut the gap to just 8 seconds by the end of the second hour. But there was more misfortune for BOM when, on the lap Levent Kocabıyık came in to hand the car over to Fatih Ayhan, the overheated left rear tyre burst. Fatih Ayhan rejoined second overall, 56 seconds behind the rival, and there was little that could be done. From that point BOM settled for second place and crossed the finish line second overall and in its group, just behind the winning rival.

The Gedik Ebam Motorsport team, made up of Ahmet Mutlubaş, Yağız Gedik and Ayhan Germirli, finished third overall and in its group, coming away successfully from its first international circuit experience... The Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport and Gedik Ebam Motorsport drivers will line up for the second round of the season at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic on 9-10-11 June.