Local drivers reign supreme in Turkey Rally

Add as a preferred source on Google

Bengaluru, October 23: Local riders Orhan Avcioglu and Buroín Korkmaz won the Marmaris Rally, Turkey's dress rehearsal event for inclusion in the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

The Toksport WRT Skoda Fabia R5 driver won seven of the 13 special stages in the hills and remote villages to the north and west of Marmaris.

But the outcome could have been so very different had overnight leader Murat Bostanci not left the road in his Castrol Ford Team Turkey Fiesta R5 on the ninth stage and thrown away the lead.

With Bostanci sidelined, Avcioglu controlled his pace to perfection to the finish to claim a winning margin of 6min 08.9sec over the consistent Burak Çukorova in his BC Vision Motorsport Skoda Fabia R5.

Çukorova and navigator Vedat Bostanci overtook Yagiz Avci and Bahadir Gucenmez on the final stage after the Red Bull-backed Peugeot 208 T16 R5 limped through the closing kilometres with engine issues and retired after the special.

Avci's late woes lifted Cyprus-based Mustafa Bulutoğullari to third in his Skoda Fabia R5 and Ugur Soylu to fourth in a similar car.

Adíl Kuçuksari was fifth in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. The result gave Skoda a 1-2-3-4 finish.

The event will now take its place in the WRC calendar from September 13-15, 2018.