First career win at the Hitit RallyThe fourth event of Turkish Rally Championship, 34th Hitit Rally, has marked its name as the most exciting event of the season. Hitit Rally was full of dramas and at the end of 12 gravel special stages, 23 years old Yagiz Avci clinched
his first ever career win followed by Ercan Kazaz.
Before the start of Hitit Rally everyone was talking about Madensuyu stage, the longest and the roughest 22 kms of the event which was to be passed 3 times. As the rally started it was proved to be right when Ercan Kazaz lost more time than he needed having the disadvantage of being the first car on the road.
Group N drivers set the pace on the opening stage of the rally as 3 WRC were luckily able to find a place within top 10. The remaining stages of leg 1 saw Hakan Dinc with his Ford Focus WRC retire due to a mechanical problem as well as favorite young drivers Fatih Kara and Hasan Ozseyhan.
Ercan Kazaz with his Group N Subaru Impreza finished the rally in 2nd place, with 3 fastest stage times through out the event keeping two WRCars over half a minute behind as he increased his championship lead by 20.75 points.
At the end of the day, Ercan Kazaz climbed out of his Impreza stronger, on his way to secure the Championship title for another year. "It's an excellent result! We lost a lot of time on day 1, we were the first car on the road, literally there was no road at all as we tried to find the right places to keep our car within the stage! It was important for us to finish ahead of Ford Focus WRC drivers which we managed. Championship is still wide open with 2 events to go, but I believe we showed what we are capable of in Ankara where everyone was expecting WRC to have the advantage on gravel stages."
Hitit Rally Result
1. Yagiz Avci – Ersan Alkir / Mitsubishi Evo 9 1:27:48,7
2. Ercan Kazaz – Cem Bakancocuklari / Subaru Impreza N12 1:28:03,6
3. Emre Yurdakul – Can Erkal / Ford Focus WRC 1:28:35,9
4.
Adil Kucuksari – Afsin Baydar / Ford Focus WRC 1:28:43,5
5. Ahmet Burkay – Bilge Ayan / Mitsubishi Evo 9 1:29:55,0
6. Mehmet Besler – Erkan Guleren / Mitsubishi Evo 9 1:30:48,6
7. Daghan Unludogan – Ahmet Sami Can / Fiat Palio Super 1600 1:31:24,9
8. Celal Ozben – Suheyl Polatoglu / Mitsubishi Evo 8 1:31:45,2
9. Tarik Oktem – Macit Gur / Subaru Impreza N11 1:32:02,9
10.Burak Cukurova – Aykan Alakoc / Fiat Palio Super 1600 1:33:18,4
Atolye Kazaz
