- Rally of Turkey
The Rally of Turkey is a rally competition on the
FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) schedule.History
First international rally in Turkey was held in 1972, starting and finishing in
İstanbul . In 1999, the idea of creating an all-new event as a WRC candidate was conceived. The next year in 2000, the Anatolian Rally based inİzmir was born. After being observed by the FIA, the rally became an official reserve event for the WRC.Antalya and Kemer, a holiday region in southwestern Turkey was chosen in 2001 as the start and finish venue for the Anatolian Rally adopting a WRC format. In 2002, first foreign entries took part,
Sébastien Loeb in aCitroën Saxo andJuuso Pykälistö in a Peugeot 206 WRC.Turkey debuted in the World Rally Championship in the 2003 season. The first two years were dedicated to
Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) for gaining experience. In 2005, the Rally of Turkey hosted for the first timeProduction Car World Rally Championship (PWRC) drivers.76 rally teams took part in the 2005 Rally of Turkey. Only 53 teams finished the total distance of 1,228 km. Repeating his victory of previous year, Sébastien Loeb of
France won the cup at 4.21.48.00' with hisco-driver Daniel Elena .The 2006 event was held from
October 13 toOctober 15 ,2006 aroundKemer – Kumluca –Antalya in southwesternTurkey on rough, gravel roads up into occasionally snowy mountain roads. Rally headquarters and the service park were located in Kemer.The Rally of Turkey returned to the WRC calendar in for the 2008 season. The
2008 Rally of Turkey took place betweenJune 12 -15 and was won byMikko Hirvonen ahead ofJari-Matti Latvala andSébastien Loeb .Winners
*2008 –
Mikko Hirvonen , Ford Focus RS WRC 07
*2006 –Marcus Grönholm , Ford Focus RS WRC 06
*2005 –Sébastien Loeb , Citroën Xsara WRC
*2004 –Sébastien Loeb , Citroën Xsara WRC
*2003 –Carlos Sainz , Citroën Xsara WRCExternal links
* [http://www.wrcturkey.com/ Rally of Turkey official site]
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