CFTT Returns from Portugal with Points
The 2016 Turkish Rally Team Champion Castrol Ford Team Türkiye finished the opening round of the European Rally Championship programme, Rally Azores in Portugal, in fifth place.
In changeable weather in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 57 competitors from 14 different countries battled over a total of 210 km of gravel stages during the three-day event. Our Turkish competitors fought to the very end against fog, rain and other road conditions they were not used to, and managed to reach the finish.
The team's Turkish Rally Champion driver Murat Bostancı went off the road on the first day of the rally, and the damage cost time and dropped the crew to 43rd in the overall classification. With the car repaired through the extraordinary efforts of the Castrol Ford Team Türkiye technical service crew, and with a strong push, Murat Bostancı-Onur Vatansever climbed all the way up to 17th in the overall classification.
The team's young crew Buğra Banaz-Burak Erdener lost time on the second day after hitting a rock, but still finished fifth in the under-27 juniors category, scoring important points.
Commenting on the rally, Serdar Bostancı said: "I think we have had one of the most challenging rallies in our history as a team. The natural environment and road conditions, which we are not used to, pushed both our drivers and our cars to their limits. Under these conditions, the fact that both of our cars reached the finish is a big advantage for us. By returning with points from a rally where we did not expect to score, we have made a good start to the season. As a team we are doing everything we can to represent our country successfully in the European Rally Championship."
The European Rally Championship team standings after Rally Azores in Portugal are as follows:
1. Opel Junior Team - Germany 40
2. Sports Racing Technologies - Latvia 33
3. ACCR Czech Team – Czech Republic 26
4. Peugeot Rally Academy - Spain 25
5. Castrol Ford Team Turkiye - Türkiye 18
6. Sport & You - Portugal 12
7. BP Ultimate Vodafone – Skoda Portugal 10
8. Neiksans Rally Sport – Russian Federation 10
9. Rally / Autoacoreana Racing Portugal 8
10. C-Rally – Poland 4
11. Lotos Rally Team – Poland 2
Castrol Ford Team Türkiye's European Rally Championship programme will continue with the Canary Islands Rally in Spain, to be run on 4 May.
