WRC Rally Türkiye on Standby

Rally Türkiye, organised by the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation (TOSFED) as part of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) for the last three years, has been placed on the reserve list as part of a rotation in the 2021 calendar announced by the International Automobile Federation (FIA). Commenting on the matter, TOSFED President Eren Üçlertoprağı said the event, held this year under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, had once again earned high praise from the authorities and competitors. "In the WRC arena over the last three years, we have come a long way with the support of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in particular, along with our Ministry of Youth and Sports and our Ministry of Tourism. In the 2020 season we got our own terms accepted and ran Rally Türkiye on a much lower budget, and it has become an event that the FIA, the WRC promoter and the WRC teams are all very keen to take part in. Every year we have received even better marks from the observers," he said. Üçlertoprağı said that, given the momentum and strength built up after successful events, they had chosen to wait and see how the current pandemic conditions would affect daily life and the sporting world. "Three of the countries on the announced 2021 World Rally Championship calendar are not yet certain to hold their events, because the necessary agreements have not yet been reached. For now, it is also unknown how the pandemic will affect the rallies at the start of the season in particular. As TOSFED, we are ready to organise Rally Türkiye in the best possible way in 2021 too, on our own terms and while protecting our country's interests. We will be following the progress of the season closely. For as long as Türkiye wants it, we will continue to be in the World Rally Championship, 2021 included," he said.