How the 2017 Season Unfolded

With the completion of the national and local series across eight disciplines – rally, circuit racing, hill climb, off-road, trial, karting, drifting and classic cars – the 2017 motorsport season is over.
The 2017 season was notable for the successes our drivers and teams achieved in Europe across different disciplines, and it also brought major developments, including the country's return to the World Rally Championship calendar after an eight-year absence and TOSFED President Serkan Yazıcı taking up a seat as one of the 14 members of the FIA World Motor Sport Council.
44 National Events Held Across Eight Disciplines
The Turkish Rally Championship, which began with the Aegean Rally and ended with the Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally, across seven rounds, concluded with the title for the Burak Çukurova-Vedat Bostancı crew, who competed in a Skoda Fabia R5 for BC Vision Motorsport.
BC Vision Motorsport finished the season as teams' champions, while the class winners were Cem Alakoç-Yusuf Çelik in 2WD and Class 4, Adil Küçüksarı-Kerim Tar for Neo Motorspor in Class N, and Hakan Ertarman-Yunus Emre Bol in Class 3. Burcu Çetinkaya Bucak was the leading female driver, Nehir Yılmaz the leading female co-driver, and And Sunman the leading young driver.
The Turkish Historic Rally Championship ended with the title for Engin Kap-Onur Aslan, who competed in a Ford Escort MKII for Parkur Racing, while Levent Gür-Oytun Albayrak won Category 1.
The Turkish Circuit Racing Championship, comprising five races at Izmir Ülküpark, Izmit Körfez and Serres in Greece, saw Ümit Ülkü take the Maxi group title in a Nissan GT-R 35 Nismo for Ülkü Motorsport, while Ali Türkkan won the Super group in a BMW 320 TC for Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport.
The Turkish Karting Championship, which grew with the addition of the Bursa Nilüfer and Istanbul Tuzla circuits and rising participation, ended after seven races with Kerim Sülyak champion in Mini, Mert Dalkıran in Formula Junior, Gün Taşdelen in Formula Senior and Mehmet Çınar in Formula Master.
In the six-round Turkish Hill Climb Championship, the champions were Engin Apaydın from Bursa in Category 1, Ferhat Tanrıbilir from Kocaeli in Category 2, Okan Tanrıverdi from Antalya in Category 3 and Emin Cem Yalın from Istanbul in Category 4. After the rounds in Bursa, Afyon, Kocaeli, Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, GP Garage MyTeam took the teams' title.
The seven-round Turkish Off-road Championship ended with the title and Class 4 win for Mustafa Saray-Samet Zurnacı from Sakarya, who competed in a Jeep Cherokee. The other class winners were Ömer Kundakçı (drivers) and Servet Gül (co-drivers) in Class 1, Mustafa Akın (drivers) and Yasemin Biber Toker (co-drivers) in Class 2, and Özgür Yaprak (drivers) and Arda Arslan (co-drivers) in Class 3, with 54 Redline Team winning the teams' category...
The Turkish Trial Championship, contested by teams of two vehicles and four competitors and comprising six events this season, ended with the title for the AVC Team-Osmanlı Offroad team made up of the Adnan Ofluoğlu-Şenol Coşkun and Oğuz Kaan Öztürk-Kürşad Öztürk crews, while Aydoff Trial Team finished second and Temesist Offroad Team third.
In the three-round Turkish Drift Championship, which featured colourful scenes this season with entries from Ukraine, Iran and the TRNC, Mert Bilaloğlu in a BMW E36 M3 took the title. Furkan Karan, who started competing this season, finished second, followed by Kemal Özhaseki in third, also in a BMW E36 M3.
The three-round Turkish Classic Car Championship ended with the title for Sinan Evman-Taylan Kaan Şakar, while the class winners were Elif Şakar in Category F and among female drivers, Murat Halil Özbaş in Category G, Sencer Sivridağ in Handicap Category E, Selim Özbakır in Handicap Category F and Kıvanç Dündar in Handicap Category G.
In the Renç Koçibey Rally Cup, Erkan Yanıkoğlu-Bora Yılmaz won the overall classification and Class 4, while the other class winners were Mert Gür-Ege Can Ünlü in Class 1, İlhan Mutluay-Cumhur Önder in Class 2 and Salih Uzunorman-Hasan Hasanoğlu in Class 3.
Champions' Championship Returns After 15 Years
The "Champions' Championship", which determines the fastest driver of the year in motorsport, was organised by TOSFED in Izmir after a 15-year break, with the support of Spor Toto, Opel Türkiye, Petlas, Atarlar Petrol, Redbull.com and Power FM. The event, which featured 48 competitors from different disciplines, was enlivened by shows from the Apexmasters drift drivers and Ukrainian Red Bull driver Alexander Grinchuk, as well as show laps from champions such as İskender Atakan, Serdar Bostancı, Volkan Işık, Cem Hakko, Halim Ateş, Serkan Yazıcı, Ömer Tolon and Ahmet Tarhan. The event was fiercely and excitingly contested from start to finish, and winner Ayhancan Güven, the Champions' Champion, received his prize from Minister of Culture and Tourism Nabi Avcı.
"TOSFED Is Looking for Its Star" Draws Huge Interest
"TOSFED Yıldızını Arıyor" ("TOSFED Is Looking for Its Star"), the first talent-scouting project in the history of Turkish motorsport, attracted great interest. In the selection rounds of the project, run by TOSFED and sponsored by FIAT, 320 candidates, 18 of them women, competed. Open to young, talented licence-holding drivers under 25, the project gave 12 drivers, 10 men and two women selected through the selection rounds, the chance to race Fiat Egea race cars with all costs covered by TOSFED. After the final selection rounds, the first race was contested by Onur Badur, Mert Kaya, Onat Telkenar, Erol Özteknik, Doğan Ergin, Emre Şentürk, Kemal Burak Özhan, Buğra Can Kılıç, Mert Becce, Tunahan Aktaş, Zeynep Selin Erkan and Halide Kübra Urgancı, and 18-year-old Onat Telkenar was the first winner.
World Rally Championship Returns to Turkey
Rally Marmaris, the final round of the Balkan Rally Cup within the European Rally Trophy and a dress rehearsal for the World Rally Championship, was held from 20-22 October around Ula and Marmaris in Muğla.
Besides Jarmo Mahonen, President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Rally Commission, and FIA Safety Delegate Michèle Mouton, other officials from the FIA who came to Marmaris to observe and assess the rally said they admired the quality of the stages and the service park. The FIA Rally Commission officially announced that Rally Turkey Marmaris, held in Marmaris, has been included in the 2018 World Rally Championship… After an eight-year gap, Turkey will host the 10th round of the 13-event calendar from 13-16 September in and around Muğla.​
Serkan Yazıcı Joins the World Motor Sport Council
The General Assembly of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) was held in Paris on 8 December. Jean Todt, who has been FIA President since 2009, was re-elected to the post once again, while Turkish Automobile Sports Federation President Serkan Yazıcı took up a seat as one of the 14 members of the World Motor Sport Council.
Three Major International Rally Successes
The Castrol Ford Team Türkiye squad, which contested the European Rally Championship with the Murat Bostancı-Onur Vatansever, Buğra Banaz-Burak Erdener and Ümit Can Özdemir-Batuhan Memişyazıcı crews, achieved a historic success by finishing the season as European Rally Championship teams' champions.
The Toksport WRT crew of Orhan Avcıoğlu-Burçin Korkmaz finished the season as Balkan Rally Champions, and also represented the country on the World Rally Championship rounds in Spain and Great Britain.
The Yağız Avcı-Bahadır Gücenmez crew, competing for Neo Motorspor, brought the 2018 European Rally Trophy to Turkey. Another Neo Motorspor crew, Adil Küçüksarı-Kerim Tar, finished runners-up in the European Rally Trophy ERT2 category.

A Voice to Be Reckoned With on European Circuits Too
In the 2017 season, outside rallying, Turkish successes abroad on the circuits were also impressive…National driver Galip Atar won the 458 category of the Ferrari Challenge Europe series, which comprised 14 races at seven different European circuits.
With the support of the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation and Spor Toto, 19-year-old national driver Ayhancan Güven, racing for Attempto Racing, drew attention with podium finishes in the Porsche Carrera Cup France and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Benelux series, in which identical Porsche 911 GT3 cars compete.
The Ebam Gedik Motorsport team finished runners-up in the 3H Endurance Champions Cup in a BMW Z4 GT3 driven by Ahmet Mutlubaş, Yağız Gedik, Ayhan Germirli and Bilal Saygılı. The Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport team, made up of Aytaç Biter, Levent Kocabıyık and Fatih Ayan, was another Turkish team in the series with a BMW Z4 GT3.
Young national driver Berkay Besler competed in the Renault Clio Cup Italy series in his first season after switching to cars this year, national driver Ümit Ülkü raced for Toksport WRT in the Porsche Sports Cup Deutschland and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Benelux series, Cenk Ceyişakar, Cengiz Oğuzhan and Yadel Özkan competed for Go Motorsports in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Benelux, 18-year-old Kuzey Eroldu raced in the Trofeo Abarth 500 Challenge, and young circuit driver Emir Aşarı competed in the RCN (Rundstrecken Challenge Nürburgring) series in Germany.
Eleven-year-old national karting driver Ömer Asaf Kolot in the Belgian Rotax Max Challenge, and seven-year-old Alp Hasan Aksoy, the youngest karting driver, in the Slovak Karting Championship, were the drivers representing the country.
Gaining Great Experience in International Events
Besides Rally Marmaris, this year Baja Troia, organised by the Istanbul Off-road Club (İSOFF), and Rally Troia, part of the Balkan Rally Cup and organised by the Eskişehir Automobile Sports Club (ESOK), passed off as successful events.
Baja Troia, organised in and around Çanakkale as the fifth round of the East European Tout Terrain Series calendar, featured 65 crews from Turkey, Italy, Israel, Romania, Greece, Great Britain and Indonesia across four categories. The event, which won the admiration of all participants, will continue to grow further in the 2018 season.
Rally Troia, the fourth round of the Balkan Rally Cup within the European Rally Trophy, was also a success for the Eskişehir Automobile Sports Club's organisation. The rally, which featured 43 European Rally Trophy cars, nine Historic cars and 23 Renç Koçibey Cup cars, a total of 75 cars and 150 competitors, also awarded points to the Turkish Rally Championship and the Bulgarian Rally Championship. The event, planned to be held in and around Eskişehir in the 2018 season, will again be run as part of the European Rally Trophy.
President Yazıcı Gives Thanks
In a statement after the 2017 season, TOSFED President Serkan Yazıcı said: "The 2017 season was a packed year for our federation, with many 'firsts' and with our drivers achieving important successes."
In his statement, Yazıcı said: "Once again we thank all our drivers and teams who have represented our country successfully all over Europe, and we congratulate our organising clubs who held successful events." Stressing that the most important event of next year will be Rally Turkey, to be held in Marmaris as the 10th round of the WRC, Yazıcı said: "We have focused all our attention on this event. We want to emerge from this giant event with our heads held high. I wish all our drivers and clubs a good year and hope their successes continue to grow."