Duo take top rally prize
TWENTY-one teams took part in two different rally events last weekend for the second round of the 2020 Off-road Rally-Raid Championship.
The “Soydan Group Afrodisia Cyprus Off- road Rally- Raid” event saw drivers and their co-drivers cover a total distance of 185km as they raced through stages in the regions of Yayla, Akdeniz and Sadrazamköy.
The duo of Musa Ersoy and Ramadan Kıral, from Hüdan Racing Team, won the “rally” category of the event in “difficult conditions” finishing in a total time of three hours, 50 minutes and 52.3 seconds in their Land Rover Tomcat.
Second place went to Argun Çağıl and Ahmet Buzlukcuoğlu, driving the same type of vehicle, from the Baştaşlar Racing Team (4h 48m 12.7s) while the Mitsubishi Pajero EVO of Adil Aroğlu and Aral Tahir Aziz took third place (5h 27m 40.8s). The rest of the Rally field either did not finish or were unable to start the race.
The winners of the “Raid” category were Hüseyin Uğur and Dinçler-Yakup Yücel, also from the Hüdan Racing Team, who finished first in their Land Rover Discovery with 30 points.
Mehmet Akkılıç and Rıdvan
Bayraktaroğlu from the Akkılıç Garage team claimed second place with 18 points after Hüdan Racing Team’s Mustafa Fırat Gümüş and Naim Ersoy were eliminated during the second day of competition after their vehicle broke down.
Third in the Raid rankings went to the Devrim DedeoğluYücel Güneş duo of the Doğacı Off-road Team.
Trophies were presented by representatives of the main sponsor Soydan Group, the Prime Ministry’s Fight Against Drugs Commission chair Hasan Karaokçu, North Cyprus Automobile Club chair Zeki Topcu and Kyrenia Off-road Association head Zühtü Cumalıgil.
Meanwhile, the Cyprus Turkish Classic Automobile Association head Burçin Aliusta has declared the end of its 2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We carried out four of the 11 events planned for the 2020 season,” he said. “It is not right to risk people’s health and continue activities under these conditions.
“All remaining activities have been cancelled in September and October . . . I wish to meet again under healthier conditions in 2021. We have started working on plans for next season.”