Küçüksarı-Tar Start Season with Victory

Saygılı Rulman Aegean Rally, the opening round of the 2017 Turkish Rally Championship, got under way on Saturday 22 April with the start in Bornova. The event attracted huge interest from rally fans, while the crews were tested by the weather. On the first day, the two stages around Mount Spil produced fierce battles after rain and snow.
The experienced Adil Küçüksarı-Kerim Tar crew from Neo Motorspor, competing with CPM Yazılım as title sponsor, finished the rally as Class N winners in their Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. Last year's Turkish champions Yağız Avcı-Bahadır Gücenmez, who started the rally in first position on the road, dropped as far as 17th overall after problems on the first day. The Red Bull- and Peugeot Türkiye-backed Neo Motorspor crew then produced superb attacks on Sunday to complete the rally third overall. Avcı also won the Redbull.com Power Stage, the final stage of Sunday, which carried separate awards, and so began the season with valuable points.
Underlining that the Aegean Rally was one of the toughest events to date, Adil Küçüksarı assessed the event as follows: "On the first day we ran the stages around Mount Spil in Manisa in temperatures of 3-4 degrees. First rain, then snow played a part. On the second day the temperature rose by 20 degrees. In terms of weather conditions it was a very difficult but equally enjoyable fight. We started the season with a Class N win and fifth place overall. The interest shown by the rally fans of Izmir made us very happy. Next up is Rally Bulgaria on 19-21 May. We have started our preparations without a break."