Burcu Çetinkaya says she is glad to be back in a rally car following her huge crash on the Geko Ypres Rally in June. However, the Istanbul driver admits it will take her a few stages before she is fully confident behind the wheel of her Peugeot Sport Turkey 207 S2000.
Çetinkaya and co-driver Çiçek Güney were uninjured in the crash but their car was too badly damaged to fix in time for last month’s Sata Rallye Açores.
“It is not a question of courage but it was a mistake in the pacenotes I wrote that caused the accident in Ypres so it will take a bit of time to get the confidence back again,” said Çetinkaya, who covered eight runs of the 3.33-kilometre shakedown stage this morning.
Having never competed in Madeira before Çetinkaya called on fellow Turkish driver Volkan Ișik for some advice about the island roads. Ișik is a former regular in the European Rally Championship and has previous experience of competing in Madeira.
“He is a good friend so gave me some good advice,” said Çetinkaya. “But I am not here to win this rally. I am here to learn for when we come back in the future but also to get our confidence back after Ypres.”