The excitement of TransAnatolia has taken place in the unique geography of Anatolia where culture, history and nature are intertwined. In its 14th year, TransAnatolia, which started in Mersin with 97 competitors, has ended on September 7 in Van, that  hosted motorsports for the first time.

Photography and Story by TransAnatolia

The International Rally Raid race TransAnatolia started in Mersin on August 31. The race, which ended on September 7 in Van, has hosted motorsports for the first time, The competitors from Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Japan, the United Kingdom and Turkiye participated in 2200 km long TransaAnatolia, which is organized for the 14th time this year.

TransAnatolia, which has succeeded in combining nature, adventure and sports in a single race and hosted more than a thousand competitors from 27 different countries in Turkiye's unique geography, has passed through the borders of 15 provinces including İçel, Karaman, Konya, Niğde, Adana, Kayseri, Yozgat, Sivas, Erzincan, Tunceli, Elazığ, Bingöl, Muş and Bitlis this year and has finished in Van on September 7.

At the start ceremony, TransAnatolia General Coordinator Burak Büyükpınar expressed his excitement for the 14th year of the race; “Mersin magnificently hosted the race, first of all, we would like to thank all the relevant institutions. As TransAnatolia, we try to go to cities that have not hosted motorsports before as much as we can, and this year we will bring the city of Van together with motorsports for the first time. At the same time, we will continue to bring our competitors together with the ancient lands of Anatolia on our entire race route.” TransAnatolia Sportive Director Orhan Çelen said; ”TransAnatolia is much more than a racing organization, it is an important organization that brings together the historical and cultural richness of the country with the competitors and makes important contributions to the sports economy. We are working with all our strength to gain more place in the international motorsport world and to introduce our country to the world.”

In his opening speech, the Governor of Mersin, Mr. Ali Hamza Pehlivan said, “Welcome to Mersin, competitors, sports lovers, guests who have devoted themselves to motorsports from many countries. We are very pleased to host an international organization of this scale. When our Minister of Interior, who is passionate about motorsports, called us and said that the start of the race is planned to be held in Mersin this year, it is now your turn to host the race, we gladly accepted.

We care about every branch of sports. We especially attach great importance to the adoption of sports by our youth and children and its existence as a lifestyle in their lives. Especially on the occasion of the Mediterranean Games in 2013, we have many facilities built at international standards in our province. We carry out activities in every branch within the framework of the understanding of our Ministry of Youth and Sports that we are spreading sports to the grassroots.

This race has many dimensions. Sport is the starting point. The promotion of the routes it passes through, its contribution to the economy and tourism is also quite big. I believe that nearly 100 competitors and over 600 guests who came here had a good time.”

On Sunday morning, September 1, the competitors  started from Mersin and completed the first day at the bivouac in Aladağ. On the second day, they reached the bivouac in Kayseri Erciyes and on the third day they arrived in Sivas. After Sivas, the competitors  moved to Tunceli and then to Bingöl, and on the sixth day of the race, they  departed from Bingöl and reached Van. TransAnatolia competitors have seen the finish with the special stage in Van on Saturday, September 7 and received their medals.

In TransAnatolia, Bikes, 4x4 Cars, SSVs, Quads and Trucks compete in two separate categories: rally and raid. In the rally, competitors compete against time, while in the raid category participants win with precision on the track.

TransAnatolia is organized with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate of Forestry, Turkish Automobile Sports Federation, Antalya Offroad Club and Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA).

While Castrol and Talay Logistics contribute to TransAnatolia as the main sponsors this year, Spor Toto, General Tire, Kosy, Fikirmedya, Euro 4x4 Parts, Izeltaş, DFDS, Cazador, Teksan and Istanbul Portföy are among the other brands that provided support. While Fiat and Jeep brands are the transportation supporters of the race this year, Power app and Motorsport.com are among the media supporters of the race.

The TransAnatolia Rally Raid from Mersin to Van started with a ceremonial start in Mersin on Saturday evening, August 31. The race started at 08:00 on Sunday, September 1 with the start of the first motorcycle in Viranşehir, Mersin, and the competitors ended the day at the bivouac in Aladağ with a challenging 3.000-meter climb.

The competitors completed the day at the campsite established in Kasımlı Pond in Aladağ after a total of 333 km of driving from Mersin to Bolkar, Darboğaz, Gerdibi and Büyüksofulllu stages.

There are 71 vehicles and 91 competitors, including 36 bikes in the rally, 7 in raid; 3 cars in the rally, 15 of them in raid, 5 SSVs and 1 Truck.

On the first day of TransAnatolia, the first stage of the race started quite fast and the competitors quickly adapted to the new satellite tracking system GeoTraq. In the second stage of the race, the competitors encountered heavy rainfall and had quite challenging moments on slippery and muddy ground.

On Sunday, September 1, the standings for the race were as follows;

In the Castrol Power 1 Bike category; Spanish Lorenzo Sanchez Santolino from Sherco team came first with 2 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds, Italian Allessandro Botturi from Yamaha team came second with 3 hours 2 minutes 35 seconds, Italian Matteo Drusiani from Yamaha team came third with 3 hours 12 minutes 36 seconds.

In the SSV category; Turkish competitors İsrafil Akyüz-Mert Tepe duo with their Canam Maverick SSV vehicle completed the day in first place in 3 hours 1 minute 12 seconds.  Paul Severin-Delphine Delfino team from Great Britain and France with their Polaris Pro R vehicle in second place with 3 hours 15 minutes 25 seconds, and the Shinsuke Umeda-Paul Durame duo from Japan and France with their Polaris Pro R vehicle finished the day in third place with 3 hours 42 minutes 6 seconds.

In the Car category; Marian Andreev-Marius Pop from Romania with Dacia Duster finished first with 4 hours 47 minutes 6 seconds, Alican Eriç-Ergün Örentel from Turkiye with Suzuki Grand Vitara finished second with 15 hours 50 minutes, and Ahmet Bağce-Uğur Tepe from Turkiye with Mitsubishi L 200 finished third with 15 hours 50 minutes. In this category, the Romanian team became the leader of the day with a serious time difference of 11 hours due to the penalties taken by their rivals.

In the Truck category, the Italian duo of Marino Mutti-Andrea Mazzoleni, competing with Mercedes Unimog, which has been participating in TransAnatolia for 6 years, completed the day with 5 hours 55 minutes and 3 seconds.

On the second day of the TransAnatolia Rally Raid, the competitors started from Aladağ bivouac and ended the day at the bivouac in Kayseri Erciyes with a 236 km drive. on the Derebağ, Erciyes and Tekir stages respectively.

It looks like there will be a fierce competition between the Sherco and Yamaha teams throughout the race. In the Castrol Power 1 Bike category the first day's ranking remained unchanged. Spanish Lorenzo Sanchez Santolino from Sherco team came first with 5 hours 58 minutes 37 seconds, Italian Allessandro Botturi from Yamaha team came second with 6 hours 10 minutes 26 seconds, Italian Matteo Drusiani from Yamaha team came third with 6 hours 24 minutes 18 seconds.

The first day's standings in the SSV category have changed. The Paul Severin-Delphine Delfino team from Great Britain and France ranked first with 6 hours 30 minutes 54 seconds, the Japanese and French Shinsuke Umeda-Paul Durame duo ranked second with 7 hours 18 minutes 57 seconds and the French Jean Luc Ceccaldi-Remi Boulanger duo ranked third with 7 hours 27 minutes 57 seconds.

In the Car category; Marian Andreev-Marius Pop, who participated in the race from Romania with Dacia Duster, came first with 9 hours 7 minutes 50 seconds, while there was a change in the previous day's ranking. Ahmet Bağce-Uğur Tepe, competing with Mitsubishi L 200, finished as second with 19 hours 34 minutes 8 seconds, and Alican Eriç-Ergün Örentel with Suzuki Grand Vitara finished third with 20 hours 51 minutes 28 seconds.

The Italian duo of Marino Mutti-Andrea Mazzoleni, competing in the Truck category with Mercedes Unimog, completed the day in 10 hours and 30 minutes.

On the third day of the TransAnatolia Rally Raid, the competitors started from the bivouac in Kayseri Erciyes and ended the day in Sivas with a total of 382 km on the Felahiye, Çandır, Çayıralan, Çubuk stages respectively.

On the Erciyes-Sivas stage, the second longest stage of the race, there were a few misfortunes. Andrea Goggi, competing from Italy in the bike class, left the race due to a dislocated shoulder after an accident. The duo of Alican Eriç & Ergün Örentel in the car class, realized that they had gone off the track on the 1st stage and their vehicle flipped over while they were returning, the competitors, who are in good health,  continued the race on September 4.

On the third day of the race, the standings continue unchanged, and the results of the race on Tuesday, September 3 were as follows;

In the Castrol Power 1 Bike category; Spanish Lorenzo Sanchez Santolino from Sherco team finished first with 8 hours 55 minutes 19 seconds, Italian Allessandro Botturi from Yamaha team finished second with 9 hours 13 minutes 3 seconds, Italian Matteo Drusiani from Yamaha team finished third with 9 hours 29 minutes.

In the SSV category, the Paul Severin-Delphine Delfino from Great Britain and France finished first with 9 hours 55 minutes 9 seconds, the Japanese and French duo of Shinsuke Umeda-Paul Durame finished second with 10 hours 52 minutes 43 seconds, and the French duo of Jean Luc Ceccaldi-Remi Boulanger finished third with 10 hours 53 minutes

In the Car category; Marian Andreev-Marius Pop, who participated in the race from Romania with Dacia Duster, continued the race in the first place with 13 hours 9 minutes 6 seconds. Ahmet Bağce-Uğur Tepe from Turkiye, who competed with Mitsubishi L 200, finished second with 23 hours 45 minutes 57 seconds.  Alican Eriç-Ergün Örentel duo from Turkiye with Suzuki Grand Vitara finished the day in third place with 39 hours 21 minutes 28 seconds due to their accident.

The Italian duo of Marino Mutti-Andrea Mazzoleni, competing in the truck category with Mercedes Unimog, completed the day in 16 hours and 40 minutes.

Starting from Sivas on the morning of Wednesday, September 4, the competitors of TransAnatolia completed the day at the bivouac  in Ovacık, Tunceli, with a total of 332 km on the stages of Zara, Büyükarmutlu, Munzur, Eğripınar respectively.

On the fourth day of the race, which took place at an altitude of 3300 meters in the Munzur Mountains, on crushing ground and on very challenging stages, the competitors ended the day at the impressive bivouac next to the Munzur River.

The standings remain unchanged on wednesday, September 4;

In the Castrol Power 1 Bike category; Spanish Lorenzo Sanchez Santolino from Sherco team finished first with 12 hours 31 minutes 15 seconds, Italian Allessandro Botturi from Yamaha team finished second with 12 hours 48 minutes 36 seconds, Italian Matteo Drusiani from Yamaha team finished third with 13 hours 12 minutes 55 seconds.

In the SSV category, the Paul Severin-Delphine Delfino team from Great Britain and France finished first with 13 hours 56 minutes 34 seconds, the Japanese and French Shinsuke Umeda-Paul Durame duo finished second with 15 hours 27 minutes 29 seconds, and the French Jean Luc Ceccaldi-Remi Boulanger duo finished third with 15 hours 53 minutes 8 seconds.

In the Car category; Marian Andreev-Marius Pop, who participated in the race from Romania with Dacia Duster, continued the race in the first place with 18 hours 43 minutes 13 seconds, Ahmet Bağce-Uğur Tepe with Mitsubishi L 200 finished second with 29 hours 6 minutes 36 seconds. Alican Eriç-Ergün Örentel duo with Suzuki Grand Vitara completed the day in third place with 44 hours 31 minutes 54 seconds.

The Italian duo of Marino Mutti-Andrea Mazzoleni, competing in the Truck category with Mercedes Unimog, completed the day in 22 hours and 30 minutes.

1574 km of the 2,200 km race has been left behind.

Starting from the bivouac in Ovacık, Tunceli on the morning of Thursday, September 5, the competitors of TransAnatolia completed the day at the bivouac in Bingöl with a total of 291 km of route on the stages of Kangallı, Pülümür, Yayladere, Körboğa, Arıcılar respectively.

On the fifth day of the race, the standings remain unchanged. Thursday, September 5th, the standings for the race;

In the Castrol Power 1 Bike category; Spanish Lorenzo Sanchez Santolino from Sherco team finished first with 16 hours 17 minutes 22 seconds, Italian Allessandro Botturi from Yamaha team finished second with 16 hours 35 minutes 45 seconds, Italian Matteo Drusiani from Yamaha team finished third with 17 hours 6 minutes 32 seconds.

In the SSV category, the Paul Severin-Delphine Delfino team from Great Britain and France finished first with 17 hours 50 minutes 16 seconds, the Japanese and French duo of Shinsuke Umeda-Paul Durame finished second with 19 hours 31 minutes 46 seconds, and the French duo of Jean Luc Ceccaldi-Remi Boulanger finished third with 19 hours 49 minutes 29 seconds.

In the Car category; Marian Andreev-Marius Pop continued the race in the first place with 23 hours 54 minutes 12 seconds, Ahmet Bağce-Uğur Tepe, who competed with Mitsubishi L 200, finished second with 34 hours 15 minutes 37 seconds. Alican Eriç-Ergün Örentel duo  with Suzuki Grand Vitara finished third with 63 hours 46 minutes 54 seconds.

The Italian duo of Marino Mutti-Andrea Mazzoleni, competing in the Truck category with Mercedes Unimog, completed the day in 28 hours 55 minutes.

Starting from the bivouac in Bingöl on the morning of Friday, September 6, the competitors of TransAnatolia completed the day in Van with the longest track of the race, totaling 434 km on the stages of Adaklı, Kaynakdüzü, Şerafettin Mountain, Arakonak, Gevaş and Bağlama.

The standings remained unchanged on the sixth day of the race. On Friday, September 6, the standings are as follows;

In the Castrol Power 1 Bike category; Spanish Lorenzo Sanchez Santolino from Sherco team finished first with 17 hours 39 minutes 7 seconds, Italian Allessandro Botturi from Yamaha team finished second with 17 hours 59 minutes 3 seconds, Italian Matteo Drusiani from Yamaha team finished third with 18 hours 30 minutes 46 seconds.

In the SSV category, The Paul Severin-Delphine Delfino team from Great Britain and France finished first with 19 hours 28 minutes 37 seconds, the Japanese and French duo of Shinsuke Umeda-Paul Durame finished second with 21 hours 6 minutes 41 seconds and the French duo of Jean Luc Ceccaldi-Remi Boulanger finished third with 21 hours 18 minutes 44 seconds.

In the Car category, Marian Andreev-Marius Pop, who participated in with Dacia Duster, continued the race in the first place with 26 hours 3 minutes 33 seconds.  Ahmet Bağce-Uğur Tepe with Mitsubishi L 200 finished second with 36 hours 19 minutes 38 seconds. Alican Eriç-Ergün Örentel duo with Suzuki Grand Vitara completed the day in third place with 65 hours 48 minutes 7 seconds.

The Italian duo of Marino Mutti-Andrea Mazzoleni, competing with Mercedes Unimog in the Truck category, completed the day with 31 hours 16 minutes 32 seconds.

On the last day of the race, the competitors started in front of Van Castle, passed through the Urartu and Hydrangea stages and finished at Van Castle. TransAnatolia, has ended with the finishing ceremony  at Van Castle at 14.00 with the participation of Van Governor Mr. Ozan Balcı and the competitors.

On the 2,200 km TransAnatolia tracks passing through 15 provincial borders, the competitors fought fiercely in challenging weather and road conditions this year.

Yamaha, Sherco and Ducati teams, which are among the most important factory teams in the world of motorsports, took part in TransAnatolia, which pioneered Rally Raid style races in Turkiye and supported the training of new racers in this branch.

Those who ranked in the race were as follows;

In the Castrol Power 1 Bike category; Spanish Lorenzo Sanchez Santolino from the Sherco team came first with 18 hours 47 minutes 58 seconds, Italian Allessandro Botturi from the Yamaha team came second with 18 hours 49 minutes 62 seconds and Italian Matteo Drusiani from the Yamaha team finished third with 19 hours 28 minutes 11 seconds.

In the SSV category; The Paul Severin-Delphine Delfino team from Great Britain and France finished first with 20 hours 28 minutes 14 seconds, the French duo of Jean Luc Ceccaldi-Remi Boulanger finished second with 22 hours 10 minutes 23 seconds, and the Japanese and French duo of Shinsuke Umeda-Paul Durame finished third with 22 hours 23 minutes 46 seconds.

In the Car category; Marian Andreev-Marius Pop, who participated in the race from Romania with Dacia Duster, came first with 27 hours 16 minutes 29 seconds, Ahmet Bağce-Uğur Tepe from Turkiye with Mitsubishi L 200 came second with 37 hours 36 minutes, Alican Eriç-Ergün Örentel duo from Turkiye with Suzuki Grand Vitara finished the race third with 67 hours 3 minutes 21 seconds.

The Italian duo of Marino Mutti-Andrea Mazzoleni, competing with Mercedes Unimog in the Truck category, completed the race in 32 hours 49 minutes 47 seconds.

The Castrol Power1 Rookie Cup was won by Italian Ludovico Tiziano Flavio Brezzi.

The winner of the TransAnatolia Raid Category, which competed with navigation, was the pair of Deniz Sönmez & Barış Sönmez from Turkiye competing with Ford Ranger. The second place was the duo of Ahmet Terece & Ulaş Germen from Turkiye competing with Ford Ranger. The third place in this category was the duo of Emre Şen & Volkan Bilgin from Turkiye competing with Suzuki Jimny.

Deniz Sönmez & Barış Sönmez won the GT Special Trophy, while Muhammet Efe Görür won the Istanbul Portföy  Support Trophy.