Özcan Yılmaz Crowned First Digital Champion
The 2020 Turkish Digital Circuit Racing Championship, organised by the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation (TOSFED) under the Red Bull Gaming Ground banner with the support of Spor Toto, Shell Helix, TRTSPOR2 and motorsport.com, concluded with the tenth round at Monza in Italy. During the pandemic, and in line with our Ministry of Youth and Sports' "stay at home, don't stay inactive" calls, Turkey became the first and only country among the 146 nations affiliated to the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to stage a national-status digital championship, with TOSFED running the event.
In the final round, held at the famous Monza circuit in Italy on the evening of 17 October, Batuhan Bilgin won the first race, while victory in the second race went to Aytaç Gördös. Özcan Yılmaz, who finished both races in the points, secured the championship title.
In qualifying ahead of the races, run with Gran Turismo Red Bull X2014 Standard Gr.X cars, Huzeyfe Çelik was fastest with a 1:19.185 to take pole position, with Özcan Yılmaz and Murat Tüter right behind. At the start of the first race there was major chaos at the very first corner, and contact between the leading cars completely reshuffled the order. Batuhan Bilgin emerged from the mêlée unscathed to take the lead. Huzeyfe dropped back, while Özcan Yılmaz, who had briefly moved into the lead before the first corner, fell back to fifth.
As the race went on, all the drivers opted for a two-stop pit strategy. With the biggest incident having come at the start, the drivers became spread out and there were no further incidents through to the finish. Batuhan Bilgin won the first race, while Özcan Yılmaz, who arrived as championship leader, finished second to guarantee the title. Huzeyfe Çelik completed the podium.
The final race of the season began with a reverse grid and a rolling start. The drivers who had been at the front in the previous race this time started from the back. In the 16-lap finale, as in the first race, a two-stop strategy was chosen. In a cleaner contest than the first race, championship runner-up Aytaç Gördös took the win, with Ali Dinç second and Murat Tüter third.
After 10 rounds and 20 races since May, held in Austria, Brazil, Britain, Italy, Japan, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany and finally Italy again, Özcan Yılmaz became the first winner of the Turkish Digital Circuit Racing Championship. After the race, Yılmaz said: "Previously, on the digital motorsport platform, I took part both among ourselves as GTTY (Gran Turismo Türk Yıldızları) and in international competitions. When I heard that the Turkish Digital Circuit Racing Championship would be held for the first time, I was very happy. I completed the necessary applications, took part in the qualifiers and was among the top 14 drivers. In the races held over the following six-month tournament, I tried to perform as well as I could. However, the other drivers in the tournament were also very experienced. So every race was challenging and exciting for me. After the tightly fought first four rounds I moved into the lead, and then I maintained it. I'm very pleased with my performance, but I did make mistakes from time to time, and I made progress by learning from them and completed the tournament as champion. I'm delighted to be champion, it's a truly wonderful feeling. Becoming 'champion' in this sport that I've been involved in for years is a source of pride… I'd also like to thank all my fellow drivers for their performances throughout the season in the spirit of fair play. I congratulate Aytaç Gördös, who finished the season second, and Sefa Batuhan Bilgin, who finished third. I thank the TOSFED family, the motorsport community, the sponsoring companies and my dear family, who gave me the greatest support, very much for their contributions."
