Turkish Influence In Motorsports
- therookiereporters
- Nov 24
- 5 min read
Weightlifting, wrestling, volleyball, archery, these are some of the sports that Türkiye is known for being good at and some determined Turks are eager to add motorsports to that list. In this article, we’ll deep dive into the stories of some influential Turks in the motorsports world.
Türkiye's relationship with motorsports goes way further back than most people realise. In fact, it's as old as the modern Turkish Republic itself. With the first steps of industrial modernisation in Türkiye in 1923, the automobile industry started growing and so the racing culture started building its foundation in the upcoming years. From 1927 until World War 2 (1939-1945), many small races took place in Istanbul, but the first “official” race was held after WW2, in 1949 in Ankara. Then, in the 70s, rallying culture began settling in Türkiye and in the 90s, rallying reached its peak popularity with many Turkish drivers racing in national and international competitions. Since then, Türkiye has appeared in ERC and WRC calendars from time to time and regional Rally races are still being held. However, the turning point of Turkish motorsport was with the arrival of F1 in 2005. Istanbul Park was designed by the famous engineer Hermann Tilke and its challenging turn 8 is still fresh in the memory of the drivers who had the chance to race there. The track served its longest stint between 2005-2011, then made a short return to the calendar during the pandemic and now is rumoured to be searching for a spot in the 2027 F1 calendar. F1's arrival has also encouraged Türkiyes future motorsports generation. Some of the famous Turkish drivers today are the result of the junior programmes that were created in the late 2000s. Nowadays, drivers and riders are re-writing Turkish motorsports history and it's time to meet some of them.
Kenan Sofuoğlu
When it comes to motorsports in Türkiye, one of the first names that comes to mind is Kenan Sofuoğlu. He was born in 1984 into a motorcycle-loving family and dominated regional championships with his late older brothers Bahattin and Sinan as teenagers. When his family struggled to finance all 3 brothers at once, he moved to Europe to live with his relatives. There, he started to develop his career, taking part in regional championships across Europe. Kenan’s career took a major turn when he joined the Supersport World Championship (WSSP) in 2006 with Ten Kate Honda. In 4 years, he became World Champion twice in 2007 and 2010, making him the first Turkish rider to win a World Championship. He also had runs in the World Superbike Championship (WSBK) in 2008 and Moto2 in 2010-2011, but without the same success he had in WSSP, he returned to the series in 2012. In this last stint of his career, he added 3 more World Championships to his tally, and still to this date, he is the most successful rider in WSSP history. During his career, he helped raise the next generation of Turkish motorsports as well. He’s still mentoring riders such as the Oncu Brothers (Deniz & Can), his own nephew Bahattin and raising his 5-year-old son Zayn with karting. After his retirement in 2018, he didn’t leave the trackside, but rather started paying closer attention to his mentees’ development and one of those riders is about to make Turkish motorsports history.
Toprak Razgatlioğlu
That rider in question is none other than “El Turco”. Born in 1996, raised on motorbikes by the late Turkish motorbike stuntman “Tek Teker Arif” and mentored by Kenan Sofuoğlu throughout his career. His motorsports career started with Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in 2013-2014, got his maiden win in Sachsenring. He spent the next few years in the European Superstock 600 Championship before signing with Kawasaki for the WSBK in 2018. In 2020, he became a Yamaha factory driver and that’s when he started to become really competitive. The next season, Toprak clinched the WSBK title and became the first Turk ever to do it. After runner-up seasons in 2022 and 2023, he decided to join BMW, which was considered a rather risky move for some. But Toprak proved everyone otherwise by winning back-to-back World Championships in 2024 and 2025, with a record-breaking 13 consecutive race victories in 2024. Toprak drew everyone’s attention with his aggressive braking style. Inferior straight-line speed? No problem, he would get you back at the braking point. His father was known for his wheelies and he turned stoppies into his trademark. This successful campaign in the WSBK series has earned him his biggest opportunity. As of 2026, Toprak will be racing with Prima Pramac Yamaha and will become the first Turkish rider to race in MotoGP. An entire nation is waiting curiously and excited for the Turk’s debut in the top class of motorbike racing.
Ayhancan Güven
Ayhancan is another recent success story of Turkish motorsports, but this time on 4 wheels. He started racing in karting as a talented young prospect and spent half of his career in regional karting championships. In 2015, he stepped up to circuit racing and sim racing. He competed in the regional Porsche Carrera Cup series in France and Germany during 2018-2022 and won the Porsche Carrera Cup France twice. His consistent and strong performance got him noticed and Porsche signed him into their Junior Programme in 2020. From 2022 on, he started appearing in GT and endurance racing series. He became champion at the Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 in 2023 and also won Bathurst 12 Hours in 2024. The Turkish driver also had the chance to represent his country in several FIA events, but his greatest success came recently in DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters). After 3 rough years in his DTM campaign, he finally won the championship in 2025 with Manthey Racing and became the first Turkish driver to achieve this feat. The reigning DTM champion was also invited to the Formula E Rookie Test earlier this season and at the moment, there are rumours about Ayhancan swirling around for a possible move to Formula E with Porsche.
Cem Bölükbaşı
In comparison to the previous Turkish drivers/riders, Cem had a very different journey. His racing career started with motocross and karting, around the same time as Ayhancan Guven. However, Cem had to wait a bit more for his opportunity in circuit racing. Cem was mostly known for his sim racing skills and those skills led him into Esports, which F1 was investing into through the end of the 2010s. He took part in the first 3 seasons of the F1 Esports Series from 2017-2019, in two of those years as a Toro Rosso driver and even won once in Belgium. “If I was never in F1 Esports, I would never have had the chance to get into a real car. I would not be where I am now,” claimed Bolukbasi once. His growing popularity and success in sim racing paved the way to his transition to circuit racing. The biggest chance of his career arose when he signed with Charouz Racing System for the 2021 Formula 2 season. But the F2 hype died as quickly as it began, as Cem couldn’t produce any good results. That, combined with some heavy crashes, injury problems and financial issues, his F2 campaign got cut short in mid-season. After a 1-year stint in the Super Formula series, he landed in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and is still racing in the LMP2 class with only 1 podium scored so far. Despite not getting as much silverware in his hands as his fellow countrymen did, he became an inspiration as a gamer turned into a real-life racing driver.
In conclusion, Turks have an interesting story in motorsports and are contributing to it immensely in recent memory. If they take the right steps in the future and introduce more talent into the sport, who knows what more they can achieve?
Article written by Emre Albas ©Emre Albas 2025
