The Rally of Turkey (also known as Anatolian Rally) is a

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

competition on the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

(WRC) schedule.

History

First international rally in Turkey was held in 1972, starting and finishing in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. 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 in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

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 Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...

in a

Citroën Saxo The Citroën Saxo was a supermini produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1996 to 2004. It was sold in Japan as the Citroën Chanson, because Honda had registered the "Saxo" name. As a badge engineered variant of the Peugeot 106 (whi ...

and

Juuso Pykälistö Juuso Pykälistö (born 21 May 1975) is a Finnish rally driver, born in Padasjoki. He has driven in the World Rally Championship with Citroën and Peugeot. Pykälistö has won the Arctic Rally twice. His best showing was 8th in 2005 at Sardinia. ...

in a

Peugeot 206 WRC The Peugeot 206 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 206. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, in the World Rally Championship from 1999 to 2003. The car brought Peugeot the manufacturers' world title three years in a ro ...

. Turkey debuted in the World Rally Championship in the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

in which only 27 of the 62 entries finished. The first two years were dedicated to

Junior World Rally Championship The FIA Junior WRC, also known as JWRC and previously known as Junior World Rally Championship, is an international rallying competition restricted to drivers under 29 years old. The championship currently consists of five select rallies of th ...

(JWRC) for gaining experience. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, the Rally of Turkey hosted for the first time

Production Car World Rally Championship The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested by Group N rally cars. History The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and obtained the ...

(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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

won the cup at 4.21.48.00' with his

co-driver A co-driver is the navigator of a rally car in the sport of rallying, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, commonly by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver (what lies ahead, where to turn, the severity ...

Daniel Elena Daniel Elena (born 26 October 1972) also known as "Danos" is a Monégasque rally co-driver working most notably with Sébastien Loeb. Between them the pair have won the World Rally Championship (WRC) nine times with Citroën, later competing wit ...

. The 2006 event was held from October 13 to October 15, 2006 around

Kemer Kemer is a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, west of the city of Antalya, on the Turkish Riviera. Kemer is on the Gulf of Antalya, of sea coast with the skirts of the western Taurus Mountain ...

– Kumluca –

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

in southwestern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

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 The 9th Rally of Turkey, the 8th round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season took place between June 12–15, 2008. The event returned after a year sabbatical and was held in the south west of Turkey, with the rally headquarters and service ...

took place between June 12–15 and was won by

Mikko Hirvonen Mikko Hirvonen (born 31 July 1980) is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 200 ...

ahead of

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 ...

and

. The rally was removed from the calendar after the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

event. The Rally of Turkey was revived for the 2018 championship as a replacement for

Rally Poland The Rally of Poland (in Polish, ''Rajd Polski'') is a motorsport event for rally cars that was first established in 1921. It is third-oldest rally in the world, preceded only by Österreichische Alpenfahrt and Monte Carlo Rally. The event became a ...

. The event was based in the town of

Marmaris Marmaris () is a port city and tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in Muğla Province, southwest Turkey, along the shoreline of the Turkish Riviera. Although Marmaris is known for its honey, its main source of income is internationa ...

Muğla Province Muğla Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey, at the country's south-western corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its seat is Muğla, about inland, while some of Turkey's largest holiday resorts, such as Bodrum, Ölüdeniz, Marmaris and Fethiye, are ...

Winners

''Pink background indicates that in that year the rally was not part of

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...

calendar.''

References

External links

Rally of Turkey official site
{{World rallies Recurring sporting events established in 1972

Antalya Province