Castrol Ford Opens Season at Aegean Rally

The excitement in the Turkish Rally Championship resumes where it left off after the winter break. The 29th Obel Civata Aegean Rally, the opening round of the Turkish Rally Championship, one of the country's most prestigious sporting events and part of the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation (TOSFED) calendar, organised by the Ege Automobile Sports Club, gets under way in Izmir from 12-14 April this year.

With the Euphoria Aegean Resort & Spa serving as rally headquarters and the Seferihisar Pazar Yeri area used as the service park, the Obel Civata Aegean Rally will play host to three championships: the Turkish Rally Championship, the Turkish Historic Rally Championship and the Zafer Vatansever Rally Championship.

Castrol Ford Team Türkiye to compete at the Aegean Rally with 10 crews!

As has been the case throughout the season, the all-asphalt Aegean Rally promises plenty of excitement once again. Castrol Ford Team Türkiye drivers will compete in the Turkish Rally Championship with four-wheel-drive Fiesta R5s and two-wheel-drive Fiesta R2T, R2 and ST cars. In the Historic Rally Championship, they will race with the Escort MK2.

Murat Bostancı and Onur Vatansever, who return to the Turkish Rally Championship after a year away, have joined Castrol Ford Team Türkiye, which has set out in 2019 with the aim of winning the manufacturers' title. The pair will chase the "2019 drivers' & co-drivers' championship" in a four-wheel-drive Fiesta R5, powered by the award-winning 1.6-litre EcoBoost petrol engine producing over 300 horsepower.

Buğra Banaz and Burak Erdener, who finished sixth in the Junior WRC category of the World Rally Championship last year in a two-wheel-drive Fiesta R2T, will also start competing in a Fiesta R5 under the Castrol Ford Team Türkiye banner in 2019, and will contribute to the team's push for the manufacturers' title throughout the season.

Drivers of the Future – "Drive to the Future"

Castrol Ford Team Türkiye continues its mission of bringing the rally drivers of the future into the world of motorsport in 2019. Under the "Drive to the Future" banner, young drivers Emre Hasbay and Mert Kaya will continue to compete in the Turkish Rally Championship on a rotating basis. At the Aegean Rally, the opening round of the season, Emre Hasbay will take the wheel of the two-wheel-drive Fiesta R2T with Drive to the Future livery and a 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine, with Emir Şahin alongside as co-driver.

Fiesta Rally Cup continues at full speed in 2019

The Fiesta Rally Cup, run alongside the Turkish Rally Championship calendar for two-wheel-drive cars, will also provide intense competition in 2019. Seven crews will start the first event of the season. Alongside last year's two-wheel-drive and Fiesta Rally Cup champions Ümitcan Özdemir and Batuhan Memişyazıcı, Kaan Karamanoğlu and Nehir Yılmaz, and Üstün Üstünkaya and Gürkal Menderes will compete in Fiesta R2Ts. Uğur Çelikyay and Yusuf Çelik will drive a Fiesta R2, while Özcan Söke and Barkın Şahin, and Levent Şapçılar and Deniz Gümüş will compete in Fiesta STs.

Kemal Gamgam and Orkun Demir, also competing under the Castrol Ford Team Türkiye banner, will contest the Turkish Historic Rally Championship in a Ford Escort MK2.

Serdar Bostancı: "We have grouped our sporting strategy for 2019 under three main headings"

Castrol Ford Team Türkiye Team Principal Serdar Bostancı gave the following assessment of the 2019 season: "After winning the Turkish Rally Championship teams' title for the 12th time last year, we open the 2019 rally season at the Aegean Rally with 10 crews. With the valuable support of all our sponsors, led by Ford and Castrol, in 2019 we are aiming for the manufacturers', drivers' & co-drivers', young drivers', two-wheel-drive and Turkish Historic Rally titles in the Turkish Rally Championship. In addition, we are proud to be organising our Fiesta Rally Cup, which gives amateur rally enthusiasts the chance to compete under the Ford brand, for the third year in a row. Our "Drive to the Future" programme, which we have launched this year as part of our tradition of bringing future rally drivers into Turkish motorsport, and which is one of the team's most important missions, is very valuable to us. I wish all the crews taking part the best of luck ahead of this first event of the new season."