Fiesta Rally Cup Champion to Be Decided in Kocaeli
Organised by Ford Motorsport Türkiye, the "Fiesta Rally Cup", with its revamped format, continues to give amateur rally enthusiasts the chance to compete as part of a professional team in the 2017 season. In a season that began in Izmir with the Aegean Rally, the crews continued at the Troia Rally in Çanakkale, which is also a round of the Balkan Rally Championship. After the Troia Rally, the crews completed the Yeşil Bursa Rally and the Istanbul Rally, and with Rally Marmaris Turkey – also a Balkan Rally Championship round and now officially on the 2018 World Rally Championship calendar – they have left five events of the season behind them.
After the five completed events, ahead of the season finale, the Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally, the Cem Alakoç-Yusuf Çelik crew, competing in Fiesta R2s, lead the Fiesta Rally Cup overall classification ahead of the Ümit Can Özdemir-Batuhan Memişyazıcı crew in the Fiesta R2T.
In the Fiesta Rally Cup, which awards class titles as well as the overall classification, the crews of Ümit Can Özdemir-Batuhan Memişyazıcı in the Fiesta R2T class, Cem Alakoç-Yusuf Çelik in the Fiesta R2 class and Onur Çelikyay-Uğur Çelikyay in the Fiesta ST class have already secured their class titles ahead of the Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally.
Ford Motorsport Türkiye's Fiesta Rally Cup Coordinator Murat Bostancı said: "Ahead of the 2017 season, to contribute to our sport, we relaunched the Fiesta Rally Cup in a format dedicated to Fiesta users, drawing on our 20 years of team experience. With the experience we have gained in Europe, especially over the last two years, and the recent European Rally Team Championship title, we have passed on all our knowledge and experience to the crews competing with the Fiesta and have now completed five events. We have reached the final round of the championship, and the champion will be decided at the Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally, where we are the host. I wish all the crews success ahead of the event."
The final round of the Fiesta Rally Cup, the Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally, will start at 12:00 on Saturday 11 November at 41 Burda Shopping Centre. The crews will complete 8 gravel stages totalling 96.30 km, including the spectator stage, covering a total distance of 276.77 km.
Fiesta Rally Cup standings ahead of the Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally:
1 Cem Alakoç (R2) 64
2 Ümit Can Özdemir (R2T) 61.5
3 İsmet Toktaş (R2T) 31.6
4 Emre Hasbay (R2T) 26
5 Kağan Karamanoğlu (R2T) 24.8
6 Burak Başlık (R2) 23.2
7 Özcan Söke (R2T) 21.5
8 Onur Çelikyay (ST) 21
9 And Sunman (R2) 18.9
10 Burcu Çetinkaya Bucak (ST) 11.8
