Rain Hits Finale of TOSFED Rally Cup
Rally Şile, the final event of the 2014 TOSFED Rally Cup season, was organised by the Eskişehir Automobile Sports Club (ESOK) in Şile, Istanbul, on 22-23 November with the support of Şile Municipality, SGS and Auto Club.
The rally got under way on Saturday evening, 22 November, with the start given at Şile Municipality Square by TOSFED President Metin Çeker and Şile Deputy Mayor Abdullah Güllüce. On the opening day, the 31 starters first went head to head on the Şile spectator stage…
Taking to the wheel again at 09:00 on Sunday 23 November, the crews tackled the Teke and Darlık stages, run under the Bostancı and Eskişehir names, three times each as they battled to reach the finish podium on Şile's harbour square.
WET WEATHER MAKES LIFE DIFFICULT FOR CREWS
Seven of the crews struggling in the wet conditions were forced to retire early for a variety of reasons. At the end of the demanding rally, brothers Tansel and Yüksel Karasu took the overall win, with brothers Erdinç and Ergun Yeşilyurt second and the Ali Gülan-Ahmet Yörük crew third.
In Category 1, the Istanbul crew of Süheyl Polatoğlu-Hakan Uçucu (Ford Ka) took the class win, with Mehmet Civelek-Erdal Boz from Antalya (Fiat Palio) second and the Istanbul pairing of Gürkal Menderes-Metin Filiz third in a Lada Samara Sport.
In Category 2, brothers Erdinç and Ergün Yeşilyurt from Istanbul added another victory in their Citroen Saxo VTS, with Ali Başo-Semih Erkal from Bursa second in a Fiat Palio and Gökhan Saraçoğlu-Ersin Tunç of Istanbul third in a Citroen Saxo VTS.
In Category 3, brothers Tansel Karasu and Yüksel Karasu from Kocaeli finished first in a Peugeot 206 RC, with Murat Üçbaşaran-Oktay Öztürk from Istanbul second in a Peugeot 306 GTI and Erdem İlbaylı-Ceren Ergun from Gaziantep third in a Ford Fiesta ST.
In Category 4, where two crews reached the finish, Ali Gülan-Ahmet Yörük took the win in a Renault Clio R3, while Akın Bilgütay-Çiğdem Bayülgen of Istanbul stood on the podium in second in a Fiat Palio.
In the Category 5 classification, the Istanbul crew of Murat Güray-Hürol Menderes took the class win in a Renault Clio RS, having reached the finish despite going off the road and causing heavy damage to their car.
In the Open category, Erkan Güral-Aras Dinçer were first in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, with Alkan Erden-Can Hergüner second in a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000.
In the rally's female co-driver classification, Ceren Ergun, who competed with Erdem İlbaylı, took first place, Çiğdem Bayülgen, who competed with Akın Bilgütay, was second, and Sonay Usluoğlu, who competed with her husband Vehbi Usluoğlu, won the third-place trophy.
CUP WINNERS DECIDED
Following the final round of the cup, the class champions were: Mehmet Civelek from Antalya in Category 1, Erdinç Yeşilyurt from Istanbul in Category 2, Hakan Ertarman from Bursa in Category 3, Ali Gülan from Istanbul in Category 4 and, again from Istanbul, Murat Güray in Category 5.
