Seda Kaçan (born 1993) is a Turkish racing driver. She is the country's second female car racing driver after Ann Tahincioğlu, who competed in 1992. She is also Turkey's first race winning female driver. She is also her country's first international race driver. She secured the championship title in the DSG class of the 2024 TCR European Endurance, becoming the first woman to do so.https://tr.motorsport.com/turkish-sports/news/avrupa-sampiyonu-ilk-kadin-pilot-seda-kacan-oldu/10627662/
Personal life
Seda Kaçan was born at
Kırklareli
Kırklareli () is a city in the East Thrace, European part of Turkey. It is the seat of Kırklareli Province and Kırklareli District. Her father is a military officer and her mother is a school teacher. She completed her higher education at
Yıldız Technical University
Yıldız Technical University ( Turkish: ''Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi'', often simply referred to as YTU or Yıldız) is a prominent public technical university dedicated to engineering and natural sciences, as well as social sciences recentl ...
in
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
as an
industrial engineer
Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...
. She works as a brand manager in the multinational company
Doritos
Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The concept for Doritos originated at Disneyland at a restaurant managed by Frito-Lay.
In 1966, Doritos became the first ...
and
PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...
.
Sport career
At the beginning of her racing career, Kaçan was held back by people around her, as they told her that it is a men's sport. After training, she decided to start her motorsport career at the age of 27, a relatively late age.
Kaçan raced first at the Turkey Karting Championship for one season, before she debuted as the second Turkish female driver in 30 years at the 2022 Turkish Racetrack Championship's () first leg, organized by the Turkish Motorsports Federation (TOSFED) and held at Ülkü Park in
Ä°zmir
Ä°zmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of Ä°zmir Province. In 2024, the city of Ä°zmir had ...
on 18–19 June. The country's first female racing driver was Ann Tahincioğlu, who competed in 1992 at the Turkish Championship. Competing in an
with race number 5 for the Bitci Racing Team AMS, and sponsored by her employer Kaçan finished the first round's first leg in sixth place, and reached fifth place in the second leg. In the second round of the championship at the
İzmit Körfez Circuit
İzmit Körfez Circuit () is a motor sports race track about west of İzmit, in Körfez district of Kocaeli Province, Turkey. Sponsored by the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation (TOSFED) and built by the Istanbul Motorsports Club (İMK), i ...
, she took third place.
Kaçan remembers her first race as "it was very exciting to start in the pole position, because the championship applies a 'reverse grid order', at which the slowest driver starts in the front". Furthermore, "she felt like she was chased by monsters behind her. So, she focused more on the learning part of the job rather than the race winning".
2023
Kaçan stood twice on the podium at the 2023 Turkish Championship. In 2023, she won the championship's first round's first leg at İzmit Körfez Circuit in her new race car Audi RS 3 DSG. She became Turkey's first race-winning female driver. The 2023 Championship consists of five rounds each with two legs. A total of twelve cars take part in two categories, in "Super" and "Maxi" groups.
Kaçan claimed her first victory in the 2023 Turkish Racetrack Championship, and finished the national championship in the second place.
She then became the first Turkish female driver in international circuit competitions debuting in the final round of 2023 TCR Italy Touring Car Championship in
Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari
The Imola Circuit, officially called the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari ( for, it, , Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit), is a motor racing circuit. It is located in the town of Imola, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Ita ...
,
Imola
Imola (; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna ...
.
2024
In 2024, the
TCR European Endurance
The TCR European Endurance Touring Car Series is a touring car racing series consisting of two-hour endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing in Europe. It is promoted by RIZA International, and started in 2024.
The format consists of a two ...
series were established, a four-leg touring car race series in three classes, Overall, DSG and Gen1, consisting of two stages lasting one hour each with a pit stop inbetween, piloted by two different race drivers in each stage. She joined Texaco Team AMS, and raced in her first full-time international season on an Audi RS3 DSG with teammate Ä°brahim Okyay. Sponsored by
Doritos
Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The concept for Doritos originated at Disneyland at a restaurant managed by Frito-Lay.
In 1966, Doritos became the first ...
,
Pepsi
Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...
and
Sixt
Sixt SE is an international mobility service provider with about 2,000 locations in more than 100 countries. Sixt SE acts as a parent and holding company of the Sixt Group, which is internationally active in the business areas of vehicle rental, ...
, she was the only female race driver in the championship.
In the first leg of the championship in
Balaton Park Circuit
Balaton Park Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Balatonfőkajár, Hungary, southwest of Budapest. The track is designed to host regional and international races. The circuit was opened in May 2023.
History
The main phase of c ...
, Hungary, she was twice on the podium, coming first in the DSG category and second in the Overall. She repeated her first place victory in the second leg in Autodromo Vallelunga Piero Taruffi. With her success in the third leg in
Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
The Misano World Circuit (officially known as Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli or Misano Circuit Sic 58, and before 2006 called Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica Misano) is a race track located next to the town of Misano Adriatico ( Pro ...
, also in Italy, she secured the championship title in the TCR European Endurance with her teammate Ä°brahim Okyay in the DSG category with one race left before the end of the 2024 season.