Uğur Soylu Takes First TRC Victory
The fifth round of the Petrol Ofisi Maxima 2026 Turkish Rally Championship, the ETİ Odunpazarı Eskişehir Rally, ended in victory for the Uğur Soylu-Mehmet Akif Yalçın crew from GP Garage My Team. The Burak Çukurova-Burak Akçay crew from BC Vision Egemot Motorsport finished second after a tough fight, while Eytan Halfon-Gürkal Menderes of GP Garage My Team took third place overall.
Organised by the Eskişehir Automobile Sports Club (ESOK) with the support of the Eskişehir Governorship, Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality, Odunpazarı Municipality, Eskişehir Chamber of Commerce, Remed Assistance, Salados, Fora, Power App, Forum Kapadokya, Evofone, KYK Yapı Kimyasalları, ETİ, Banaz Otomotiv and Espark, the rally was run over two days with 38 crews on a 501-kilometre route, 120 kilometres of which were special stages.
Uğur Soylu-Mehmet Akif Yalçın won the rally's Remed Assistance special award, Class 2 and the advantage stage, while GP Garage My Team took the teams' victory. The Two-Wheel Drive and Class 4 winners were the Ömer Faruk Çabuk-Alperen Tetik crew, while in Class 3 the win went to Hüseyin Çetmen-Soner Çevik of BC Vision Egemot Motorsport.
The other class winners were Burak Başlık-Sedat Bostancı in Class 5, Demir Sancaklı, who competed with Ersin Ören, among the young drivers, and Kübra Denizci Keskin, who competed with Kerem Deveci of Team Binance TR, among the female drivers.
In the event's Behiç Yurdaçalışan TOSFED Rally Cup classification, the Gürol Baranlı-Burak Koç pairing won both the overall classification and Category 4. Ömer Güneş-Sevi Akal finished second overall in the cup and won Category 3, while Murat Çetin-Derya Ulus took third. Baran Demirkan-Tarık Doğançay won Category 2 and Berat Yıldırım-Onur Sırımoğlu won Category 1. The cup's top female driver was Candan Erim, who competed with Mesut Şafak Doğan, while Sevi Akal was the top female co-driver.
The season continues on 17-18 October with the sixth round of the Petrol Ofisi Maxima 2026 Turkish Rally Championship, Rally Kocaeli.
