Çankaya Hill Climb Goes Down to the Wire

The Çankaya Hill Climb, the fourth round of the 2016 Turkish Hill Climb Championship, was organised by the Ankara Automobile Sports Club (ANOK) on 19 June at Kömürcüler Neighbourhood on the Elmadağ Ski Resort road.

The event began on Sunday morning with practice runs and was then run over three climbs on the 6-kilometre course. Fifteen drivers from Bursa, Antalya, Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul took part in a closely fought event.

Last year's Turkish Hill Climb Category 1 champion, Bursa's Burak Başlık, took the Category 1 win in a Citroen Saxo VTS, with second place going to Burak Sohtorik, a former champion returning to the hill climb courses in a Fiat Palio...

In Category 2, Hakan Yuva from Antalya was the fastest of the day in a Fiat Punto S16000. Bursa's Hakan Ertarman (Renault Clio Ragnotti) finished second, followed in third by Ankara's Mustafa Göçer in a Fiat Punto Kit Car.

In Category 3, Bursa's İsmet Toktaş, competing for Ülkü Motorsport in a Honda Civic Type-R EP3, took the win, while last year's champion, Ankara's Refik Bozkurt, finished second in a Renault Sport Clio by just 10 hundredths of a second. Notably, the two drivers were separated by only hundredths of a second on all three climbs, with all three runs falling within the same second. Third in the category went to Ankara's Cem Şit in an Opel Astra GSI.

In Category 4, last year's Turkish Hill Climb Champion Ümit Ülkü won his category once again in a Porsche 997 GT3. Competing for Ülkü Motorsport, Ülkü also set the fastest climb of the day with a 03:10.750 on the second run. Ayhan Germirli took second on the podium in a Renault Sport Clio, while third in the category went to Kadir Murat Altuntaş, one of the home drivers from Ankara, in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX.

The 2016 Turkish Hill Climb Championship continues with the KOSDER Hill Climb in Kocaeli on 6-7 August.