Çetinkaya hopes for better luck in Açores

Burcu Çetinkaya will be hoping for a change of fortune when she resumes her Intercontinental Rally Challenge programme on Sata Rallye Açores next month.

After a mechanical failure led to her retirement on Rally d’Italia-Sardegna in early June, Çetinkaya suffered a sizable accident on last weekend’s Geko Ypres Rally, the third time in as many starts that she has crashed out of the technically challenging asphalt event.

But the 29-year-old from Istanbul remains undeterred and says she is still on course to achieve her goal of scoring points before the end of the season.

“It was my mistake that we had the accident,” said the Peugeot Sport Turkey driver. “Ypres has never been my most favourite event but I was actually starting to enjoy it and build up my speed when the accident happened on stage 14. Our goal is still the same: to take some points in the IRC and I am still on target to achieve that.”

Sata Rallye Açores takes place from 15-17 July.