Transanatolia 2020 kicked off with a spectacular ceremonial start that took place at the Dolmabahçe!
Despite all difficulties, TransAnatolia 2020 kicked off as the first rally raid race of the year.
TransAnatolia Rally Raid will take place during August 15-22, 2020 with the participation of important names from the automotive and motor sports world in France, Italy, Belgium and Azerbaijan as well as Turkey.
This year, 25 motorcycles, 37 automobiles, 3 SSVs and 5 ATVs are competing making up a total of 70 vehicles.
The administrative and technical controls of the competitors were completed on the 15th of August, Saturday at the Istanbul Kemerburgaz City Forest under comprehensive health precautions.
The teams gathered at the Dolmabahçe Palace, an iconic symbol of Istanbul, to start the 10th Transanatolia rally following the ceremonial start that took place with the companionship of the unmatched beauty of the Bosphorus. The joy of the competitors and their awe at Istanbul were obvious to the eyes of the viewers.
The competitors took start in the morning of August 16, Sunday passing from Europe to Asia over the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge to start the first special stage of the day amidst the unique scenery of Kartepe following the 187 km long transfer stage. 240 kilometers of the total 386 kilometers took place in three special stages during the first day.
Frenchman Xavier de Soultrait came first in the motorcycle category at the end of the first day with a time of 2.29:50. Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren took second place with 2.34:00, while Italian Allessandro Botturi took third place with 2:34:55. Jacopo Cerutti was fourth with last year’s champion Italian Maurizio Gerini following him in the fifth place. The rankings of the competitors with differences of merely seconds between them indicate that we will witness a fierce competition during the upcoming days.
İsrafil Akyüz came first in the Quad category in the first day with a time of 03.31:12, while Hasan Yatkın completed the race in second place, Yusuf Sayar in third place followed by Erkan Uzlaş in fourth place.
The first three rankings in the SSV category were as follows. The team of Çağdaş Çağlar & Ertuğrul Danişment was ranked first at the end of the first day with 03.55:54, while Necati Şahin & Armağan Şahin finished the race in second place with 04.58:17 followed by Zafer Durmaz & Onur Altan Tan in third place despite some technical issues they experienced.
Last year’s automobile category champion Mert Becce & Sertaç Tatar from the Becce Motorsports team made a flying start to the first stage but failed to preserve the advantage of the first stage due to brake problems they encountered. Ahmet Bağce and Mert Tepe from IXCO Racing displayed a flawless performance and navigation during the first day completing it in first place with a time of 03.16:20.
Serhat Saygılı & Suat Çelik came second with 03.21:10, while Mert Becce & Sertaç Tatar finished the day in third place. Hüseyin Kurt & Özaydın Dölek from IXCO Racing came fourth while Tolga Yılmaz & Ebru Demirbay Erişti came fifth.
The first day that was quite difficult and stressful for the competitors came to an end at the camp in Bolu, Abant.
