Winter Cup Opener Delivers Edge-of-the-Seat Racing

The opening round of the Safari Motorsport winter cup series, the Safari Winter Challenge organised by the Kocaeli Automobile Sports Club, was held on 24-25 February at the TOSFED Körfez Race Track. In a very different format, 15 drivers fought an exciting battle in identical Opel Corsa OPCs, and young driver Hasan Tansu emerged as the winner…In the opening heats, the 15 competitors were split into three groups of five, and the drivers battled fiercely to secure a good place for themselves in the semi-final groups. In the semi-final groups, finishing in the top two meant a place in the final group.After semi-final races decided by fractions of a second, Ersin Yücesan won his group and set the best overall time. With that result, Yücesan earned the right to start the final from the front of the grid. Hasan Tansu, Hakan Mete Kutay, Çağlayan Çelik, Rıfat Sarıcaoğlu and İrfan Özgür followed in that order.After a door-to-door fight, Hasan Tansu took the chequered flag first in the seven-lap final, with Çağlayan Çelik and Ersin Yücesan following. The Safari Winter Challenge, run in this format for the first time, attracted great interest and praise.The second round of the Safari Winter Challenge series will take place on 10-11 March, again at the TOSFED Körfez Race Track.