Turkey's Biggest Rally Takes Place This Weekend
Rally Bosphorus, Turkey's oldest and best-established international motorsport event, will be held in Istanbul for the 44th time this year, on 24-26 July.
The rally, which will award points to the Turkish Rally Championship, the Turkish Historic Rally Championship and the TOSFED Rally Cup as well as the European Rally Cup, will welcome competitors from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Finland and Bulgaria in addition to Turkey.
The event will begin with a ceremonial start at 20:30 on Friday 24 July from Pendik Atatürk Square, with the first day of competition getting under way at 10:00 on Saturday 25 July from the Pendik service park. On the opening day, the crews will tackle the Deniz, Mudarlı and Oruçoğlu stages twice each, before finishing the day at the Pendik Service Park from 17:30.
TWO DAYS OF TOUGH COMPETITION
The second day of the demanding rally, which totals 619.26 kilometres including 190 kilometres of special stages, will start at 09:00 on Sunday 26 July. On the second day, the crews will once again run the Kadıllı, Göçbeyli and Ulupelit stages, on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, twice each, before fighting to reach the finish podium at Pendik Atatürk Square from 17:00.
RADISSON BLU TUZLA HOSTS ONCE AGAIN
Organised by the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation, the rally is sponsored by Radisson Blu Hotel&Spa Istanbul Tuzla, Castrol and AutoClub, and is supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Pendik Municipality, the Istanbul Governorship, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the Kocaeli Governorship and Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. The Hyundai, Fiat, Opel, Nissan, Peugeot and Isuzu brands are also supporting the event with vehicles.
A KEY CORNER IN THE TURKISH CHAMPIONSHIP
As the longest and highest-coefficient round of the Turkish Rally Championship, the rally carries great importance for Turkish drivers, and the championship fight is set to heat up even further. Murat Bostancı-Onur Vatansever and Orhan Avcıoğlu-Burçin Korkmaz of Castrol Ford Team Türkiye, along with the Yağız Avcı-Bahadır Gücenmez crew from Neo Motorspor, stand out as the Turkish crews who will join the fight for the podium.
BOSTANCI-VATANSEVER IN THE LEAD
Ahead of this rally, Murat Bostancı leads the Turkish Rally Championship on 57 points, with Yağız Avcı second on 54. In the Turkish Rally Teams' Championship, Castrol Ford Team Türkiye continues to lead.
In the Turkish Historic Rally Championship, which is open to rally cars over 30 years old, Finnish driver Hannu Pulkkinen, who is competing on a Turkish licence this season, leads the standings, while Bonus Unifree Parkur Racing tops the teams' classification.
FIRST GRAVEL EVENT OF THE TOSFED CUP
Ahead of this season's first gravel rally in the TOSFED Rally Cup, which gives amateur drivers the chance to compete on lower budgets, the standings leaders are Emrah Ali Başo in Category 1, Alptekin Işıkalp and Osman Tanrıverdi, who are level on points, in Category 2, Hakan Ertarman in Category 3, Serhan Türkkan in Category 4 and Osman Karaosman in Category 5.
