İsmet Toktaş Returns from Aegean Rally with Points

The 2016 Turkish Rally Championship opened with the Saygılı Rulman Aegean Rally on 16-17 April, organised by the Ege Otomobil Sporları Kulübü, abbreviated to EOSK, with Saygılı Rulman as title sponsor.

The cars left Forum Bornova at 13:30 on Saturday 16 April and headed for the "Selim Teoman" special stage, but the stage was cancelled because of a forest fire and the crews had to run it as a regular road section. On the second stage, named after Mazhar Demiralp, one of the doyens of Turkish motorsport, the Toktaş - Özşenler crew set the 16th-fastest time overall and fifth in class. They followed it with strong times on the spectator stage at the Ülkü racing circuit, the final stage of the day, to end day one up two places in 14th overall and fourth in class.

Starting the second day with the aim of moving up the overall classification, the crew made their attacks count over four stages and finished the day 11th overall.

After the finish, İsmet Toktaş said: "At the Aegean Rally, the opening round of the season, with a big entry and 12 cars starting in our category, we tried to build a fast but controlled strategy. We managed to break away from rivals running more up-to-date cars and move up the order in our category on the second day. Our attacks paid off and we finished the day fifth in class and 11th overall."

After İzmir, the Turkish Rally Championship continues on the Aegean coast in May. Turkey's oldest international motorsport event, Rally Turkey, will be held for the 45th time on 13-15 May, running for the first time in Marmaris, in the province of Muğla, under the name Marmaris Rally Turkey.