Buğra Claims First Win on Home Soil

The Evofone ESOK Rally, organised by the Eskişehir Otomobil Sporları Kulübü, took place in Eskişehir from 23-25 April with 82 cars and 164 competitors. Run over 10 special stages on a 335.17km asphalt route, the rally was won by Buğra Banaz-Gürkal Menderes, driving a Skoda Fabia R5 for BC Vision Motorsport. With this result, the young Eskişehir driver took the first overall win of a career, on home roads. The rally, which in addition to the FIA European Rally Cup also counted towards the Shell Helix 2021 Turkish Rally Championship, the Turkish Historic Rally Championship and the Şevki Gökerman Rally Cup, saw second place overall go to Burak Çukurova-Vedat Bostancı, also of BC Vision Motorsport in a Skoda Fabia R5, while third went to Ümit Can Özdemir-Batuhan Memişyazıcı of Castrol Ford Team Türkiye in a Ford Fiesta R5. At the finish, BC Vision Motorsport took the teams' title and Castrol Ford Team Türkiye the manufacturers' title. Across two demanding days, Ali Türkkan-Onur Arslan of Castrol Ford Team Türkiye won Class 4 and the 2WD classification in a Ford Fiesta Rally4. In Class N, Cem Alakoç-Emir Şahin of GP Garage My Team took the win, while in Class 5 the victory went to Çağlayan Çelik-Ufuk Uluocak, who compete in the Clio Rally Trophy Turkey. Young Drivers winner Ali Türkkan, Female Drivers winner Şule Berkcan and Female Co-Drivers winner Asena Sancaklı collected their awards at the finish ceremony held at Espark, while in the Historic classification, open to classic rally cars over 35 years old, Üstün Üstünkaya-Kerim Tar of Parkur Racing took victory. In the historic category, Kemal Gamgam-Orkun Demir took second in a Ford Escort MKII, while the Gerçek Sunman-Bahar Sunman pairing finished third and won Category 1 in a Murat 131. The Şevki Gökerman Rally Cup ended with Okan Tanrıverdi-Sevilay Genç winning overall and Category 2, Emrah Ali Başo-Yasin Tomurcuk second overall and first in Category 2, and Ayhan Germirli-Mustafa Nazik third overall and first in Category 4. In Category 1, Sedat Bostancı-Mertcan Yurt took the win.
The Shell Helix 2021 Turkish Rally Championship continues with Yeşil Bursa Rally on 29-30 May.