Batı Impresses on Porsche Carrera Cup Italia Debut

Batı Ege Yıldırım, our 16-year-old national driver, impressed in last weekend's opening round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia, one of Europe's most competitive series. Starting the season with just five practice sessions in a 34-car field, Batı showed signs that the switch from karting to car racing will be a quick one.

Batı completed his first official car race weekend by qualifying 29th, finishing 29th in the first race and 23rd in the second. In a series where every rival has at least two seasons of circuit racing experience in cars, the performance was above expectations and served notice to his competitors for the rounds ahead. The young Turkish driver's strong start in the first race, held at night, was voted the "best launch of the weekend" in a poll among the Porsche Junior Academy drivers.

Porsche Carrera Cup Italia consists of six rounds and 12 races. Following the opening round at Misano, the championship continues at Vallelunga, Mugello, Imola, Misano and Monza.