Turkish team enters BTCC

Having made his Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship debut in 2006, Erkut Kizilirmak his bringing his own team over from Turkey to contest a full campaign this year.

Kizilirmak’s Arkas Racing squad has acquired all three of last year’s factory Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatches from the manufacturer’s race team Triple Eight Engineering to race in Britain’s premier motor racing championship.

Under the Arkas Racing banner, the team will continue to receive support from Triple Eight with the cars fettled by Tech-Speed Motorsport. Kizilirmak will drive one car with the remainder of the driver line-up still to be decided.

Kizilirmak said: “The BTCC is the most entertaining touring car series in the world and the opportunity to work with Triple Eight is a real privilege. I stopped competing in Turkey half way through last year in order to start racing in the BTCC and I’ve never been in a more exciting environment in my whole racing career. Now I just can’t wait for next season to start.”

Arkas Racing is part of Arkas Automotive, Turkey’s first multi–brand automotive dealership network with contracts with Ford, Opel (Vauxhall), Volvo, Peugeot and Renault Trucks in the cities of Istanbul, Izmir and Bursa.

Arkas Automotive’s marketing director, Yalcin Arsan, is optimistic about the team’s prospects in the UK. He added: “We have built up an excellent relationship with Triple Eight over the last two years, and are putting a solid support structure in place with established names Brian Ashwood and Tech-speed alongside us. 2007 will be a year of evolution for us but we are looking to progress quickly, starting with the appointment of a talented UK driver in the second seat to complement Erkut.”