Avcı Takes Fourth Win of the Season at Istanbul Rally
The 39th Istanbul Rally, round six of the 2018 Turkish Rally Championship, took place on 20-21 October. Organised by the İstanbul Otomobil Sporları Kulübü under the main sponsorship of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, with the support of Budget, B-Plas, Fiat, Intercity and Tuzla Belediyesi, the event was held in memory of the late Istanbul Chamber of Commerce president İbrahim Çağlar.
Fourth Win for Avcı-Vatansever
A total of 46 crews started the demanding rally, tackling nine special stages over 292.26 kilometres across two days, and 28 crews made it to the finish podium. Yağız Avcı-Onur Vatansever, driving a Ford Fiesta R5 for Ford Motorsport Turkey, went off the road with two stages to go and picked up damage, but still took the win, their fourth victory of the season. Second place went to Dağhan Ünlüdoğan-Aras Dincer in a Skoda Fabia R5 for BC Vision Motorsport, while Deniz Fahri-Bahadır Gücenmez, in a Ford Fiesta R5 for Ford Motorsport Turkey, completed the podium in third.
Last year's champions Burak Çukurova-Vedat Bostancı of BC Vision Motorsport, among the leading title contenders, suffered a puncture on SS7 that cost them around three minutes, and they finished the rally in fourth. As a result, the 2018 champions will be decided at the final rally.
Class Favourites Untroubled
The Avcı-Vatansever crew also took the Class 2 win, while the other class winners were Ümit Can Özdemir-Batuhan Memişyazıcı in Class 4, driving a Ford Fiesta R2T for Ford Motorsport Turkey, and Fatih Kara-Bilge Ayan in Class 3, driving a Fiat Egea 1.4 T-Jet for Fiat Motorsporları.
Onat Telkenar-Efe Eryalaz, who are competing this season with the support of TOSFED and Fiat, claimed the young driver and young co-driver awards, as well as the Egea Youth Cup win as winners of the TOSFED Yıldızını Arıyor programme. In another single-make cup, the Fiesta Rally Cup, victory went to Ümit Can Özdemir-Batuhan Memişyazıcı.
Murat 131s Lead the Historic Classification
Levent Gür-Oytun Albayrak, once again competing in a Murat 131, won the historic classification, which is open to classic rally cars over 35 years old, and the crew also took the Category 1 win. Gerçek Sunman-Bahar Sunman, in a similar car, took second place on the podium, while Haydar Güçlü-Hakan Kanca, in a BMW 2002 Ti, finished third and won Category 2.
Başo-Menderes Win the Ali Sipahi Cup
In the Ali Sipahi Rally Cup classification, run in memory of the late Ali Sipahi for amateur drivers, Emrah Ali Başo-Gürkal Menderes added another link to their winning streak in a Ford Fiesta R1, and also won Category 4. Yavuzhan Cabbaroğlu-Enez Al, second in this classification in a Subaru Impreza, also took the Category 3 win, while Ramazan Ekiz-Batuhan Doğan, in a Fiat Palio, finished third and won Category 1. Cevdet Yıldırım-Mert Boylu, in a Citroen Saxo VTS, lifted their trophy on the podium as Category 2 winners of the Ali Sipahi classification.
Rally Season Closes in Kocaeli
The Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally 2018, the final round of the Turkish Rally Championship, the Turkish Historic Rally Championship and the Ali Sipahi Rally Cup, will be organised by the Kocaeli Otomobil Sporları Kulübü on 17-18 November.
