Burcu Cetinkaya says her outing on Rally of Turkey last weekend was the ideal preparation for her Intercontinental Rally Challenge campaign, which gets underway on Rally d’Italia Sardegna from June 4-6.
Cetinkaya used the world championship rally to acclimatise to the Peugeot 207 Super 2000 she will drive this season, finishing 12th overall on the demanding gravel event.
She said: “It was good experience and I’m pleased with my result, even though I was not interested where I finished because I was using the rally just to practice. I improved a lot my use of the gearbox and the braking. It was only my third rally in a four-wheel drive car so I am quite pleased.”
The 29-year-old from Istanbul is due to contest seven rounds of the IRC alongside co-driver Cicek Guney. She is the first female driver to enter an expanded programme of IRC events.