President Yazıcı: "We Are Delighted for Our Country and Our Sport"

Following a decision taken at a meeting held in Paris by the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Turkey, one of the candidate countries, has been added to the championship in place of Poland, which has been removed. According to the 2018 World Rally Championship calendar, Rally Turkey, the tenth round of the championship, to be held on 13-16 September, will take place in Muğla.
Answering our questions after this important development, Serkan Yazıcı, President of the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation, began by saying: "We have managed to stand out among some very important countries and return to the World Rally Championship calendar after a gap of seven years, and we are delighted for our country and our sport to be back in the WRC." He added: "Rallying, which will give a major boost to motorsport in our country, will also be the biggest sporting event organised in Turkey in 2018."
When we reminded President Yazıcı that they had made a very ambitious entry onto the calendar, promising to "put on the best rally", he said: "As an athlete who has competed in the World Rally Championship, I have shared my experience from many countries with our team, and we set out to deliver the best event on the 13-round calendar. We believe we will successfully stage the most compact rally in WRC history to date in and around Muğla." He said that the TOSFED team, which has plenty of international event experience from previous years, would prepare with all its strength and organise an excellent rally.
The TOSFED President added that, in a region such as Muğla with its ideal rally roads, they were certain the stages named after late rally drivers would become classics and be greatly admired by all competitors. Noting that Rally Turkey would also bring other firsts, he said: "For the first time in WRC history, we will have special stages that pass close by the service area, and even finish inside it. Local and foreign guests will be able to watch the rally from their boats and experience an unforgettable event amid magnificent natural beauty, where green meets blue."
Serkan Yazıcı said he believed that Castrol Ford Team Türkiye leading the European Rally Team Championship, along with the victories of Yağız Avcı-Bahadır Gücenmez at Rally Bulgaria and Orhan Avcıoğlu-Burçin Korkmaz at Rally Serbia in the European Rally Trophy, show that Turkey is making its presence felt in motorsport through both the quality of its organisation and the quality of its competitors, and that this had played a part in the success.Inviting all motorsport fans to watch Rally Marmaris, which will be held on 20-22 October 2017 as part of the European Rally Trophy, President Yazıcı added that the factory teams competing in the World Championship would send engineers and officials to gather the information needed for 2018, and that preparations would begin straight away.