Rallying is male-dominated sport. There’s no doubting that fact. However, a number of very talented ladies have made an indelible mark on the sport and none more so than Michelle Mouton, reports EVAN ROTHMAN.
A country inhabiting both the West and East, with its main city straddling the borderline, in fact, Turkey has stepped up to produce a rally driver of growing stature. Turkey has brought the world of rallying Burcu Cetinkaya, who wowed crowds with her impressive car control and speed in the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge series in a Peugeot 207 S2000.
The way is now paved for more ladies in her homeland of Turkey to strive for the international rallying stages, and the most promising to date is Burcu Burkut Erenkul. This 21-year-old driver contested the three-round Istanbul Rally Championship last month, a highly-popular event staged over six demanding speed tests in and around Istanbul’s gravel roads.
Having produced very respectable results in the overall classification against the quicker and more powerful machines in the S2000 and N4 Classes, Erenkul’s Ford Fiesta ST N3 did her proud. Of the 16 ladies entered for the series, Erenkul won the Ladies Championship! To boot, she beat more experienced male drivers to finish second overall in the Junior Championship and was crowned the Class N3 Champion too.
With the Turkish Rally Championship kicking off later this season, Erenkul is searching for financial backers to allow her to continue competing in the Ford Fiesta ST N3 of Ford of Turkey for 2011, and she aims to then contest select rounds of the Italian Rally Championship to gain more competitive experience. This young lady is undoubtedly a star of the future…