Avcı-Gücenmez Take Victory in Bursa
The 40th Yeşil Bursa Rally, the third and final asphalt round of the 2015 Turkish Rally Championship, was organised by the Bursa Automobile Sports Club (BOSSEK) on 13-14 June. Supported by Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, Crowne Plaza Bursa, Toktaş Otomotiv Hankook and Störer Kentvizyon, the event also counted towards the Turkish Historic Rally Championship and the TOSFED Rally Cup.
The rally began with the start at 13:00 on Saturday 13 June in front of the Merinos Atatürk Culture and Congress Centre, with a total of 64 crews competing: 26 in the national category, 11 historic and 27 in the TOSFED Cup. Over two days and 503 kilometres, 140 of them on special stages, the event produced a fierce fight, and 20 crews in the national category, 8 in the historic and 14 in the TOSFED Cup made it to the finish.
AVCI-GÜCENMEZ TAKE THEIR FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON
The Neo Motorspor crew of Yağız Avcı-Bahadır Gücenmez won by 36.7 seconds from last year's Turkish Rally Champions, Murat Bostancı-Onur Vatansever of Castrol Ford Team Türkiye. Avcı, who has four Turkish Rally Championship titles to his name, kept his title challenge alive with this first victory of the 2015 season. In the demanding 11-stage rally, third place overall went to another Castrol Ford Team Türkiye crew, Orhan Avcıoğlu-Burçin Korkmaz. Competing as privateers, Mehmet Çakal-Mehmet Köleoğlu took the Class N win in their Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, while Castrol Ford Team Türkiye's Ümitcan Özdemir-Afşin Baydar won Class 4, the 2WD category and the young drivers' category. Turgay Özdemir-Onur Aslan won Class 3 in a Ford Fiesta ST, Burcu Çetinkaya, competing alongside Deltasport's Çiçek Güney, was the top female driver, and Nehir Yılmaz, who competed with Hakkı Ağaoğlu, was the top female co-driver. The young co-drivers' win went to Elif Tavukçuoğlu, who competed with Osman Uğur.
ESCORTS ON THE PODIUM IN HISTORIC
In the historic rally category, open to rally cars over 30 years old, three Bonus Unifree Parkur Racing crews in Ford Escort MkIIs shared the podium. Four-time historic rally champions Engin Kap-Başar Yavuz took the win, with Burak Türkkan-Özden Yılmaz second and the Finnish crew Hannu Pulkkinen-Juha Vaskilainen, who are competing on a Turkish licence this season, third. The Category 1 win in the historic rally classification went to Sinan-Sedef Dündar in a Volkswagen Golf MK1.
HEAVY ATTRITION IN THE TOSFED CUP
In the TOSFED Rally Cup, where 14 of the 27 starters reached the finish, the category winners were: in Category 1, Emrah Ali Başo-Yunus Emre Bol from Bursa in a Fiat Palio; in Category 2, Erdinç Yeşilyurt-Ergun Yeşilyurt from Istanbul in a Citroen Saxo VTS; in Category 3, Hakan Ertarman-Yasin Tomurcuk from Bursa in a Renault Clio Ragnotti; in Category 4, Serhan Türkkan-Taner Oylukan from Eskişehir in a Ford Fiesta R2; and in Category 5, Resul Bozkurt-Rasin Saygun from Bursa in a Subaru Impreza WRX.
