Erkut Kızılırmak (born 14 September 1969) is a Turkish racing driver. He started racing in rallying in 1992 and switched to touring cars in 2002, at the age of 32.
In 2005, Kızılırmak 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 Kızılırmak 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. In 2007, Kızılırmak announced that he would be competing in the full BTCC championship, in an VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch. His Arkas Team united with Tech-Speed Motorsport to run the car.
Two tenth-places in the high-attrition round 8 at Brands Hatch gave Kızılırmak his only two overall points of the season, while he finished ninth in the Independents' Cup, showing some speed and gusto in a 2006-spec car.
Kızılırmak also won the first two races of the 2007 Turkish Touring Car Championship.
In 2008, Kızılırmak returned for another season in the BTCC. This time as part of a two car team alongside Martyn Bell with the renamed Team Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk. His best result of the year was a tenth-place finish in round six at Rockingham Speedway, giving him his one championship point of the year.
Racing record
World Touring Car Championship (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Pts 2005 GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra ITA1 ITA2 FRA1 FRA2 GBR1 GBR2 SMR1 SMR2 MEX1 MEX2 BEL1 BEL2 GER1 GER2 TUR1 TUR2 ESP1 ESP2 MAC1 MAC2 - 0
British Touring Car Championship (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position - 1 point awarded in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap - 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap - 1 point awarded all races)
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Pts 2006 VX Racing Vauxhall AstraSport Hatch BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 MON1 MON2 MON3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 DON1 DON2 DON3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 26th 0 2007 Arkas Racing Vauxhall AstraSport Hatch BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 DON1 DON2 DON3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 24th 2 2008 Arkas Racing withsunshine.co.uk Vauxhall AstraSport Hatch BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 22nd 1
References
External links Profile on btcc.net btcc:action Profile Profile at BTCCPages.com