Erkut Kızılırmak

Who is Erkut Kızılırmak?

Erkut Kızılırmak is an auto racing driver from Turkey. He started racing in rallying in 1992 and switched to touring cars in 2002, at the age of 32. In 2005 he won the Turkish Touring Car Championship, in a Vauxhall Astra Coupé formerly raced by Yvan Muller in the BTCC. He also made an appearance in the Turkish round of the World Touring Car Championship in 2005 driving an ex works SEAT Toledo for the GR Asia team alongside Tom Coronel.

His connections with the series and the Triple 8 Race Engineering company, increased in 2006, with Erkut becoming the first Turkish driver to compete in the BTCC when he raced at Croft in a BTC-T Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, converted from one of the team's show cars. He also competed at Snetterton, where he achieved his best result - 13th.

On February 9, 2007 Erkut announced that he would be competing in the full BTCC championship in 2007, in an ex VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch. His Arkas Team unites with Tech-Speed Motorsport to run the car. Despite previous expectations, it was a one-car team, with no place for previous Tech-Speed driver Paul O'Neill.