Erkut Kızılırmak (born 14 September 1969) is a Turkish racing driver. He started racing in

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

in 1992 and switched to

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move a ...

in 2002, at the age of 32. In 2005 he won the Turkish Touring Car Championship, in a Vauxhall Astra Coupé formerly raced by

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 wit ...

in the

BTCC The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...

. He also made an appearance in the Turkish round of the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sing ...

in 2005 driving an ex works SEAT Toledo for the GR Asia team alongside Tom Coronel.His connections with the series and the Triple 8 Race Engineering company, increased in 2006, with Erkut becoming the first Turkish driver to compete in the BTCC when he raced at Croft in a BTC-T Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, converted from one of the team's show cars. He also competed at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population ...

, where he achieved his best result - 13th. On 9 February 2007 Erkut announced that he would be competing in the full BTCC championship in 2007, in an ex VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch. His Arkas Team unites with Tech-Speed Motorsport to run the car. Two tenth-places in the high-attrition round 8 at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

gave him his only 2 overall points of the season, while he finished 9th in the Independents' Cup, showing some speed and gusto in a 2006-spec car. Erkut also won the first two races of the 2007 Turkish Touring Car Championship. In 2008 he returned for another season in the BTCC. This time as part of a two car team alongside Martyn Bell with the renamed Team Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk. His best result of the year was a tenth-place finish in round six at

Rockingham Speedway Rockingham Speedway and Entertainment Complex (formerly known as North Carolina Speedway from 1998 to 2007 and North Carolina Motor Speedway from 1965 to 1996) is a D-shaped oval track in Rockingham, North Carolina, United States. The track h ...

, giving him his one championship point of the year.

Racing record

World Touring Car Championship

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

British Touring Car Championship

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position - 1 point awarded in first race) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap - 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap - 1 point awarded all races)

External links

Profile on btcc.netbtcc:action ProfileProfile at BTCCPages.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kizilirmak, Erkut 1969 births Living people Turkish racing drivers British Touring Car Championship drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers Turkish rally drivers Sportspeople from İzmir