WTCR promoter Discovery Sports Events confirms multi-year FIA ETCR Race of Turkey deal for Istanbul

Turkey will host the FIA ETCR — eTouring Car World Cup for the next three years after an exciting multi-season plan that organisers say will ‘blaze a trail for the enhancement of electric mobility in the country’ was unveiled in Istanbul yesterday (Tuesday). The news was announced during launch event at the Golden Horn Shipyard in Beyoğlu – Istanbul’s centre of culture – on Tuesday morning, hosted by the Beyoğlu municipality.

Among the guests were Mayor of Beyoğlu, Haydar Ali Yildiz, Ministers Mustafa Varank (Industry and Technology), Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoglu (Youth and Sports) and Murat Kurum (Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change), Eren Üçlertopraği, President of TOSFED (Turkey’s Motorsport Federation), FIA ETCR Series Director Xavier Gavory and Mert Güçlüer, CEO of event promoter EMSO Sportif. The move ensures that a round of the world’s first FIA-sanctioned all-electric touring car contest will take place in Turkey at a time of vast electrification of the automotive industry.

A 150 per cent rise in the number of electrified vehicles sold last year compared to 2020 and plans to export more than 1 million Turkish-built electrified vehicles to other markets by 2030 are vivid indicators of the country’s desire to ‘go electric’ and reduce emissions. This year’s Race of Turkey will be held from May 20-22 at the permanent Istanbul Park circuit, venue of the annual Turkish Formula One Grand Prix.

It will then switch to an all-new street circuit, located in Beyoğlu, for both the 2023 and ’24 editions, as part of a festival highlighting the limitless possibilities of electric mobility in the city. The first FIA ETCR — eTouring Car World Cup, which has evolved from 2021’s PURE ETCR, will begin with the Race of France on