2019 Rally Turkey

2019 Rally Turkey 12. Marmaris Rally Turkey
Round 11 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next event →
Rally Turkey is the slowest gravel round on the calendar.
Host country	Turkey
Rally base	Marmaris, Muğla
Dates run	12 – 15 September 2019
Start location	Marmaris Castle, Muğla
Finish location	Marmaris, Muğla
Stages	17 (310.10 km; 192.69 miles)[1]
Stage surface	Gravel
Transport distance	678.40 km (421.54 miles)
Overall distance	988.50 km (614.23 miles)
Statistics
Crews registered	31
Crews	28 at start, 24 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën Total WRT 3:50:12.1
Power Stage winner	Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Support category results
WRC-2 winner	Kajetan Kajetanowicz Maciej Szczepaniak Kajetan Kajetanowicz 4:06:00.4

The 2019 Rally Turkey (also known as Marmaris Rally Turkey 2019) is a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 12 and 15 September 2019.^[2] It marked the twelfth running of Rally Turkey and was the eleventh round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the newly created WRC-2 Pro class. The 2019 event was based in Marmaris in Muğla Province, and was contested over seventeen special stages with a total a competitive distance of 310.10 km (192.69 mi).

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were the defending rally winners. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners.^[3] The Škoda Motorsport crew of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not defend their titles as they were promoted to the newly created WRC-2 Pro class.^[4]

Reigning World Drivers' and World Co-Drivers Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia won in Turkey for the first time in their careers. Their team, Citroën World Rally Team, were the manufacturers' winners.^[5] The M-Sport Ford WRT crew of Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson won the WRC-2 Pro category, while the Polish crew of Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak won the wider WRC-2 class to take the championship lead, finishing third in the combined WRC-2 category.^[6]

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships by thirty-three-points ahead of Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul. Defending world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were third, a further seven points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held an eight-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.^[7]

In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen were forty-one points ahead of Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson were third, another twenty-five points further back. In the manufacturers' championship, Škoda Motorsport led M-Sport Ford WRT by twenty-nine points, with Citroën Total eighty-five points behind in third.^[8]

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Nikolay Gryazin and Yaroslav Fedorov led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by four points respectively. Benito Guerra and Jaime Zapata were second, while Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais were third, six points separating them.^[8]

The following crews entered into the rally. The event opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of thirty-one entries were received, with ten crews entered with World Rally Cars and sixteen entered the World Rally Championship-2. Three crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class.

No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Entrant	Car	Tyre
World Rally Car entries
1	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M
3	Teemu Suninen	Jarmo Lehtinen	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
4	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M
5	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
6	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
7	Pontus Tidemand	Ola Fløene	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
8	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
10	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
11	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
89	Andreas Mikkelsen	Anders Jæger-Amland	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
World Rally Championship-2 Pro entries
21	Kalle Rovanperä	Jonne Halttunen	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
22	Gus Greensmith	Elliott Edmondson	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	M
23	Jan Kopecký	Pavel Dresler	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
World Rally Championship-2 entries
41	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	Maciej Szczepaniak	Kajetan Kajetanowicz[a]	Škoda Fabia R5	P
42	Fabio Andolfi	Simone Scattolin	Fabio Andolfi[b]	Škoda Fabia R5	P
43	Henning Solberg	Ilka Minor	Henning Solberg[c]	Škoda Fabia R5	M
44	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson	Fabian Cretu	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson[d]	Škoda Fabia R5	M
45	Paulo Nobre	Gabriel Morales	Paulo Nobre[e]	Škoda Fabia R5	P
46	"Pedro"[f]	Emanuele Baldaccini	"Pedro"[g]	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	P
47	Diogo Salvi	Hugo Magalhães	Diogo Salvi	Škoda Fabia R5	M
48	Burak Cukurova	Vedat Bostanci	Burak Cukurova	Škoda Fabia R5	P
49	Murat Bostanci	Onur Vatansever	Murat Bostanci	Ford Fiesta R5	P
50	Deniz Fahri	Bahadir Gücenmez	Deniz Fahri	Škoda Fabia R5	P
51	Gaurav Gill	Glenn Macneall	Gaurav Gill	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	M
52	Bugra Banaz	Burak Erdener	Bugra Banaz	Ford Fiesta R5	P
53	Bora Manyera	Cem Cerkez	Bora Manyera	Škoda Fabia R5	P
Source:[9]

Two brand new stages were introduced into the route, while the twisty Çiçekli stage has moved from Friday to Sunday and runs in opposite direction.^[1]

All dates and times are TRT (UTC+3).

The M-Sport Ford WRT crew of Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin had been due to return, having missed the Rallies of Finland and Germany when Evans injured himself in a pre-event testing accident while preparing for Rally Finland. However, Evans' recovery necessitated further delays, with Wales Rally GB earmarked for their return.^[11]

Several drivers suffered punctures, including three Toyota drivers and Dani Sordo. Esapekka Lappi led into the second leg, following by champion teammate Sébastien Ogier. Thierry Neuville was in the eighth spot after the morning loop, but a masterful drive in the afternoon loop promoted the Belgian to third.^[12]

Saturday was full of dramas. At the opening stage of the leg, championship contender Neuville went off the road and lost approximately four minutes, which dropped him down to ninth.^[13] Moments later, championship leader Ott Tänak was out as well. His Yaris broke down at the road section and was unable to move further, which means his day was over.^[14] Following Ogier's major rivals in troubles, the defending world champion put himself on the top of the leaderboard as of Friday, just 0.2 second ahead of teammate Lappi.^[15] Eventually, they both safely completed the rally to bring Citroën their first 1-2 finish since 2015 Rally Argentina.^[5]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1			Ott Tänak	210			Martin Järveoja	210			Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	314
2		1	Sébastien Ogier	193		1	Julien Ingrassia	193			Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	295
3		1	Thierry Neuville	180		1	Nicolas Gilsoul	180			Citroën Total WRT	259
4		1	Andreas Mikkelsen	94		1	Anders Jæger-Amland	94			M-Sport Ford WRT	184
5		1	Kris Meeke	86		1	Sebastian Marshall	86

Jan Kopecký survived a day of "rockstorm" after two punctures, while his teammate Kalle Rovanperä retired form the day as he rolled his Fabia in the morning's opening test.^[16] However, Kopecký suffered yet another puncture, which lost his lead to Gus Greensmith.^[17] However, Greensmith rolled his Fiesta R5 after the flying finish at the second to last stage. He was able to complete the final test to take his second Pro victory.^[6]

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1			Kalle Rovanperä	166			Jonne Halttunen	166			Škoda Motorsport	257
2		1	Gus Greensmith	110		1	Elliott Edmondson	110			M-Sport Ford WRT	220
3		1	Mads Østberg	110		1	Torstein Eriksen	110			Citroën Total	110
4		1	Jan Kopecký	79		1	Pavel Dresler	79
5		1	Łukasz Pieniążek	74		1	Kamil Heller	62

Local driver Bugra Banaz's rally was over as his Fiesta R5 burnt out on the liaison section to the final stage.^[16] Kajetan Kajetanowicz held a three-minute lead after Saturday after two drama-free days.^[17] However, he broke a driveshaft on Sunday, but managed to bring his wounded Fabia home to take his first victory of season in the category.^[6]

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points
1		4	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	73		4	Maciej Szczepaniak	73
2		1	Nikolay Gryazin	73		1	Yaroslav Fedorov	73
3		1	Benito Guerra	69		1	Jaime Zapata	69
4		1	Pierre-Louis Loubet	63		1	Vincent Landais	63
5		1	Ole Christian Veiby	50		1	Jonas Andersson	50

• Official website (in Turkish and English)
• 2019 Rally Turkey in e-wrc website
• The official website of the World Rally Championship