2019 FIA World Rally Championship Rally Turkey - Preview
The FIA World Rally Championship contenders will tackle the rocky gravel roads of Rally Turkey on September 12-15 for round 11 of the 2019 season.
Turkey returned to the WRC in 2018 for the first time since 2010 with a new look event based around Marmaris, on the country’s southwestern coast. With an extremely rough surface and hot temperatures, the Mediterranean round is known as a dramatic rally of attrition, which places high demands on the cars and tyres, and rewards those who manage to avoid problems.
Ott Tänak claimed victory last year, taking his third win in a row to gain ground in the championship fight. This year, after his recent triumphs in Finland and Germany, the Toyota driver will try to repeat the same hat trick and, this time around, extend his championship lead that currently stands at 33 points over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. Citroën’s Sébastien Ogier is a further seven points behind and will look to bounce back after a difficult event in Germany. In the race for the manufacturers’ title, Toyota is just eight points behind Hyundai after sweeping the podium on the last round.
Pontus Tidemand returns to WRC action for M-Sport for the first time since Rally Sweden, alongside Teemu Suninen, as Elfyn Evans is set to return to competition on home soil in Wales in October.
After two rounds replacing his injured team-mate in the top category, Gus Greensmith moves back to his regular drive for M-Sport in FIA WRC 2 Pro, where he will battle it out with the Škoda duo of Kalle Rovanperä and Jan Kopecký. The FIA WRC 2 entry is led by Kajetan Kajetanowicz, Fabio Andolfi and Henning Solberg, who brought his Škoda Fabia R5 to an impressive sixth overall in Turkey last year.
THE 2019 ROUTE
A super special stage in the resort town of Marmaris kicks off the rally on Thursday evening before the crews face the longest day of the event on Friday, with around 160 kilometers of competitive action across two loops of three stages. Saturday features another three stages run twice, with the new Kizlan test, which promises stunning scenery along the coastline. A final four stages complete the rally on Sunday, including the incredibly twisty “Çiçekli”, which was run last year on Friday in the opposite direction.
RALLY DATA
| Total distance | 986.28 km |
| Stage distance: | 309.86 km (31.42%) |
| Number of stages: | 17 |
MEDIA ACCREDITATION
The Accreditation Desk is located in the Media Center in the Asparan Service Park, Marmaris (GPS coordinates: N36° 49.111’ E28° 11.535’).
The opening hours are:
| Tue. 10 September | 14:00 – 20:00 hrs |
| Wed. 11 September | 08:00 – 20:00 hrs |
| Thu. 12 September | 08:00 – 20:00 hrs |
| Fri. 13 September | 08:00 – 14:00 hrs |
2019 RALLY TURKEY TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA
| Wednesday 11 September | |
| Mandatory media safety briefing, Photographers’ Room, Media Center | 17:00 hrs |
| Thursday 12 September | |
| Mandatory shakedown for P1 & P2P, Değirmenyani | 10:00 - 11:30 hrs |
| Shakedown for all Priority drivers (P1, P2P, P2), Değirmenyani | 11:30 - 13:30 hrs |
| Shakedown (others), Değirmenyani | 13:30 - 15:30 hrs |
| ‘Meet the Crews’ Top 3 Shakedown, WRC stage, Asparan Service Park | 14:00 hrs |
| FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center, Asparan SP | 14:30 hrs |
| Start of the rally (section 1), Asparan SP | 17:30 hrs |
| Rally opening ceremony, Asparan SP | 18:00 – 18:30 hrs |
| Autograph signing session for P1 crews, Marmaris Marina | 18:30 – 18:50 hrs |
| Autograph signing session for P2P & P2 crews, Marmaris Marina | 18:50 – 19:20 hrs |
| Family photo P1 crews, Marmaris Castle | 19:00 hrs |
| Parade with P1 crews on Marmaris’s super special stage | 19:30 hrs |
| Friday 13 September | |
| Start of Section 2, Asparan SP | 07:30 hrs |
| First car arrives for regroup, media zone & service, Asparan SP | 12:49 hrs |
| First car arrives for regroup, media zone & final service, Asparan SP | 18:58 hrs |
| ‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 1, WRC stage, Asparan SP | During the 45’ service |
| Saturday 14 September | |
| Start of Section 4, Asparan SP | 07:57 hrs |
| First car arrives for regroup, media zone & service, Asparan SP | 12:17 hrs |
| First car arrives for media zone, regroup & final service, Asparan SP | 17:17 hrs |
| ‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 2, WRC stage, Asparan SP | During the 45’ service |
| Sunday 15 September | |
| Start of Section 6, Asparan SP | 08:55 hrs |
| Regroup after SS16 Çiçekli | 12:30 hrs |
| Rally finish, Asparan SP | 13:38 hrs |
| Podium Ceremony & Price Giving, Asparan SP | approx. 14:15 hrs |
| FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center, Asparan SP | 15:50 hrs |
FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
| Thursday 12 September | FIA WRC |
| Ott Tänak (EST), Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | |
| Esapekka Lappi (FIN), Citroën Total WRT | |
| Dani Sordo (ESP), Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | |
| Pontus Tidemand (SWE), M-Sport Ford WRT | |
| FIA WRC 2 PRO | |
| Jan Kopecký (CZE), Škoda Motorsport | |
| Gus Greensmith (GBR), M-Sport Ford | |
| FIA WRC 2 | |
| Burak Cukurova (TUR) | |
| Henning Solberg (NOR) | |
| Sunday 15 September | Winning FIA WRC 2 Pro Championship crew |
| Winning FIA WRC 2 Championship crew | |
| Top three crews in the overall classification | |
| Representative of the winning manufacturer |
2019 RALLY TURKEY, MANUFACTURER ENTRIES
| Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (#11) |
| Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jaeger-Amland (#89) | |
| Dani Sordo / Carlos Del Barrio (#6) | |
| Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (#8) |
| Kris Meeke / Sebastian Marshall (#5) | |
| Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (#10) | |
| Citroën Total WRT | Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (#1) |
| Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (#4) | |
| M-Sport Ford WRT | Teemu Suninen / Jarmo Lehtinen (#3) |
| Pontus Tidemand / Ola Fløene (#7) |
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS
The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships is available on the following link:
https://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2019/standings
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