TOSFED Announces Cup in Memory of Ali Sipahi

The rally cup, which allows amateur drivers to compete under more affordable conditions and was run in 2016 as the Yusuf Aramacı Cup and in 2017 as the Renç Koçibey Cup, will this year be held in memory of Ali Sipahi, one of the doyens of Turkish motorsport.
The cup begins on 5-6 May with Frigya Rally, the season-opening rally, which will be held in and around Eskişehir. It continues with Hitit Rally, Kocaeli Rally, Aegean Rally and Yeşil Bursa Rally, and concludes with Istanbul Rally on 8-9 December. Frigya Rally, which is part of the European Rally Cup, will award points with a coefficient of 1.1, while Hitit, Kocaeli and Aegean rallies carry a coefficient of 1, and Yeşil Bursa and Istanbul rallies a coefficient of 0.8.
Unlike in previous years, crews contesting the cup will not start at the back of the field in the national rallies, but will compete mixed in with the National and Historic classifications. Crews competing in all of the rallies will fight it out in four separate categories, based on engine capacity and the technical specification of their cars.
Who Was Ali Sipahi?
Born in Ankara in 1932, Sipahi began in motorsport in Sweden, where he lived for a long time. Having brought the sport to Turkey and made great efforts to develop it, Ali Sipahi also took part in many races in Europe and achieved significant success. In particular, finishing the 1965 Acropolis Rally of Greece, a round of the World Championship, sixth overall and first in his group remains one of the greatest achievements in the sport's history. The doyen of Turkish rallying, who won the Turkish Rally Championship four times, in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974, competed for many years alongside his wife Sevim Sipahi. Sipahi died at the wheel after suffering a heart attack on 1 June 1980 on the Çanakkale-Çan section of Günaydın Rally, and many events have since been organised in his name.