Excitement Peaks at the Winter Cup

The Autocross Winter Cup, organised by the Aydın Otomobil Sporları Kulübü, was held in Izmir on Sunday 18 December. The tough competition among the Category 1 drivers warmed up the spectators and provided plenty of entertainment. The excitement felt by Nurşen Eser, competing for the first time, was plain to see.

Mechanical failures on the race cars knocked out several contenders in Categories 2 and 3. When the camshaft belts snapped on the Fiat 131s of Nijad Sirel and Göktuğ Tuncay during practice laps, neither competitor was able to start the cup. Bedri Kolsallayan, who was also competing in Category 1, struggled to get his Palio started before practice and only made it onto the track at the last moment. Bahadır Sevinç, who had retired after rolling in the 2016 Izmir Cup final, was forced to bow out of the cup again when his engine block blew in the first race of the day.

Nüvit Karakaşlı won the first of the two races held on the same day for the 2016 Winter Cup. Although a mechanical failure prevented a finish in the second race, the 10 points from the opening race were enough to make Karakaşlı the Winter Cup Category 2 winner.

The excitement at the Autocross Winter Cup reached its height in Category 1. Among the three drivers competing in Fiat Palios, 16-year-old Cem Doğrular challenged the experienced drivers. In the first race of the cup, Doğrular took the top spot in the category with a time of 5:13:22 and earned 10 points. Kemal Şener was second with 5:15:29 and took 8 points. Bedri Kolsallayan, about half a second behind Şener in third, collected 6 points.

In the second race of the Winter Cup, the order among the drivers, separated by very small margins, was reversed. Bedri Kolsallayan won with 5:14:87 and took 10 points, while Kemal Şener, despite the accelerator pedal sticking at one point, finished second with 5:16:15 for 8 points. This time it was Cem Doğrular who was caught out by mechanical problems during the race, but Doğrular still completed the second race in 5:44:43 and earned 6 points.

The three competitors finished the cup level on 16 points, and under the rules the order was decided by the best five-lap time of the day: Cem Doğrular took first, Bedri Kolsallayan, with the second-best time, was second and Kemal Şener third. Nurşen Eser, who also competed in Category 1 and started a race for the first time, won the women's classification.