Izmir Ready for Season Opener

Organised without a break since 1990 by the Ege Otomobil Sporları Kulübü, founded in Izmir in 1989, the Aegean Rally is being held for the 27th time this year with Saygılı Rulman as title sponsor.

The traditional season opener will begin on the evening of Friday 21 April with a free Fatma Turgut concert at the amphitheatre in Aşık Veysel Park in central Bornova, with the start ceremony taking place at the same time.

On the first day of the rally, which starts from Bornova at 13:30 on Saturday 22 April, the crews will head for Manisa to tackle the 21-kilometre Spil stage, before dropping down to Kemalpaşa via the Beşpınar stage and finishing the day with a spectator stage, run twice, at the ÜlküPark circuit. From 08:00 on Sunday morning, the crews will run the Bayramlı, Çınardibi and Bayındır stages in the Kemalpaşa area twice each, before collecting their awards at the finish ceremony in central Kemalpaşa from 18:00.

The opening rally of the season, in which Neo Motorspor, BC Vision Motorsport, TOK Sport WRT, GP Garage My Team, Teknik Motorsport and Unifree Parkur Racing will compete as teams, will award points not only for the Turkish Rally Championship but also for the Turkish Historic Rally Championship and the Renç Koçibey Rally Cup.

The Saygılı Rulman Aegean Rally is also notable as the first event of the Ford Motorsport Fiesta Cup, which begins this year. Within this special cup, Ford Fiesta STs, Ford Fiesta R2s and R2Ts will be classified separately.