Castrol Ford Team Türkiye Celebrates European Title

Castrol Ford Team Türkiye, which wrote itself into the history books in 2017 by delivering Turkey's first European rally title in the teams category, celebrated its championship at a special event. The celebration was attended by Ford Otosan and Castrol management, the sponsors who are among the team's biggest supporters, and leading figures from the Turkish motorsport community, headed by Turkish Automobile Sports Federation President Serkan Yazıcı, along with a large number of media members. The crews who won the European Rally Championship and the Fiesta Rally Cup crews, who enjoyed a superb season, received their awards at the championship night.

A year full of success at home and abroad
Having already secured countless victories and championships, Castrol Ford Team Türkiye finished the 2017 season in October as European Rally Teams Champion. In the FIA ERC – European Rally Championship, one of the world's toughest and most prestigious motorsport championships, the team scored 153 points across 7 rounds in 7 different countries, spanning a vast geography from the Azores islands of Portugal to Southern Cyprus and enduring highly demanding climatic conditions. The resulting European Rally title marks one of the greatest achievements in the history of Turkish motorsport.
Haydar Yenigün: "It is a source of pride to help Turkish drivers compete internationally"
Ford Otosan General Manager Haydar Yenigün stressed that seeing such proud results in return for their long-term investment in motorsport is an invaluable achievement, and said: "We welcomed with great joy the fact that Castrol Ford Team Türkiye, which has left behind 20 years full of successes in Turkey and abroad, became 'European Teams Champion' in 2017. I congratulate them for being the architects of the greatest success achieved in the history of motorsport in Turkey to date and for giving motorsport a new momentum. As one of the most important supporters of Castrol Ford Team Türkiye, it is also extremely meaningful that the investments we have made and the effort spent along the way have produced such good results and contributed to motorsport in our country. As Ford Otosan, helping Turkish drivers improve their competitiveness on the international stage is a source of pride for us. The Castrol Ford Team Türkiye crew is also a very important business partner, and with the synergy we have created together, I wholeheartedly believe they will achieve even greater success."

Özgür Yücetürk: "A very important milestone for our country's sporting history"
Ford Otosan Deputy General Manager for Marketing, Sales and After Sales Özgür Yücetürk said: "Castrol Ford Team Türkiye began the 2017 season in the European Rally Championship, which it entered in 2016, with the aim of becoming European Champion in the teams category. The team succeeded in becoming champion by finishing ahead of its German and Czech rivals in this championship, which spans many different countries and features very tough stages. The success achieved in this biggest and most important rally series on the European continent is a very important milestone for our country's sporting history. I once again congratulate the Castrol Ford Team Türkiye drivers and the whole team, led by Director Serdar Bostancı, who brought Turkey its first European title in rallying, on this great achievement." He added: "Motorsport has held an important place on Ford Otosan's corporate agenda since 1998 and is also one of our strategic communication tools. In particular, with the arrival of the WRC in Turkey, we want to continue our support in this field in the long term, with a new vision that will support our corporate agenda."
Fiesta Rally Cup Awards Presented
While representing our country in Europe, Ford Motorsport Türkiye also revived the Fiesta Rally Cup in its Turkish operation, giving amateur rally enthusiasts a professional rally experience, and provided technical support to more than 15 crews within the Fiesta Rally Cup during the season. The awards for the competitors who finished on the podium in the Fiesta Rally Cup, run as part of the Turkish Rally Championship events, were also presented on the same night. Bursa's Cem Alakoç and Yusuf Çelik finished the season as winners in their Ford Fiesta R2, with Ümit Can Özdemir and Batuhan Memişyazıcı second in a Fiesta R2T, and İsmet Toktaş and Sedat Bostancı third, also in a Fiesta R2T. In the Fiesta Rally Cup, where class winners were rewarded alongside the overall classification, Ümit Can Özdemir and Batuhan Memişyazıcı won the Fiesta R2T class, Cem Alakoç and Yusuf Çelik the Fiesta R2 class, and Onur Çelikyay and Uğur Çelikyay the Fiesta ST class.