PROLOGUE
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For the past 15 years, the TransAnatolia Rally Raid has become more than simply another international rally raid and it’s been a celebration of endurance, talent, and the spirit of adventure in Turkey’s Anatolia.
Anatolia is a peninsula in Western Asia that accounts for the majority of Turkey’s land area. It is Asia’s westernmost protrusion, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west, the Turkish Straits to the northwest, and the Black Sea to the north.
Topographically, the Sea of Marmara connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus, dividing Anatolia from Greece and Bulgaria in southeast Europe, with Istanbul, Turkey’s capital, located on both the European and Asian continents.
Anatolia therefore serves as a bridge between the East and West, resulting in a dynamic and diversified culture that combines ancient traditions with modernism.
And that is precisely what the TransAnatolia Rally Raid represents, bringing together the finest of Turkey, its rich nature, history, and culture!
Over the course of seven days and 2.150 kilometers, the TransAnatolia Rally Raid crossed forest trails, ancient cities, mountain peaks and the solitude of endless steppes, facing a challenging and well scouted routes, where all shared a fair competition, excitement, fatigue and positive stress too.
PROLOGUE
Bursa, Turkey’s fourth-most populous city and about two hours south of Istanbul, was the official ceremonial starting point of the TransAnatolia Rally Raid 2025. In addition, the slopes of the hills around Bursa provided an ideal testing environment for the final shakedown and prologue later that afternoon, a stop to start loop track.
The starting grid had 26 male riders from Italy, San Marino, Turkey, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia, as well as a solitary female rider from Germany. They all travelled to Turkey independently or with their selected support team from Desert Rose Racing, Solarys Factory Team, Evasioni Rally Raid, or ADM Racing. Thomas Marini on a Husqvarna 450, Paolo Degiacomi on a Gas Gas EC 350, and Murat Yazici on a Triumph TF 450F dominated the prologue, clocking 05:19.1, 05:25.4, and 05:47.7, respectively.
In addition, three Turkish quad riders lined up with their Polaris Sportsman XP100 or CanAm BRP’s. Kadir Dagli, Hasan Yatgin and Mustafa Dagli clocking 06:54.1, 07:27.3 and 10:27.8.
The SSV category was dominated by the CanAm Mavericks X3 teams. With a total of 12 teams from Turkey, the Netherlands, Romania, Italy and France, 7 were using the X3. Others used the CanAm Maverick R, the Polaris Pro R or the Polaris RZR Pro. So to no surprise three CanAm Maverick X3 teams also dominated the prologue with Abdullah Turgut & Harun Deynek from Turkey leading with 05:07.9, Onur Talay & Tuğberk Türken from Turkey at 05:24.3 and Federico Butto & Emiliano Tinaburri from the Italy at 05:27.0.
This year’s truck category was once again dominated by a virtually legendary red UNIMOG and an even more renowned world-traveling rally participant Marino Mutti of Italy. His prologue time, even without real competition in the truck category of the TransAnatolia Rally Raid, was 09:06.5.
Unfortunately, only four Turkish teams competed in the car category in 2025, a Suzuki Grand Vitara, a Toyota Hilux, a Mitsubishi L200, and finally a brand new Porsche Carrera 4S. Ahmet Ağaoğlu & Bahadir Atay and their Porsche were clocking 06:53.1, Hüseyin Kurt & Özaydin Dölek with their Mitsubishi clocking 07:27.9 and thirdly Mitat Diker & Erdal Oral were clocking 08:17.4 with their Suzuki.
LEG 1 | BURSA to KÜTAHYA | 259.8 km
The warmup lag. On the first day, traversing the Uludağ mountain range south of Bursa at an altitude of 1.901 meters, the pace was not slow. Uludağ, also a popular drink served in restaurants worldwide, combines mountain spring water with lemonade to perfection, is from here.
Curvy mountain service tracks with a light sandy surface gave an ideal starting point for all categories to learn about the terrain and elevation. Depending on the route, the trail led largely through pine trees and green forest clearings, which were either dark or bright, but always dusty and dry.
The track encouraged in fact fast running, but it was impossible to foresee what would happen around the next corner, making it dangerous for all participants. And that is exactly what happened: Hasan Yatgin died in an accident caused by a technical malfunction.
The entire group of quad participants from Turkey decided to withdraw its participation in respect and the rest of the participants in all classes completed the first leg as follows:
BIKES
#1 Thomas Marini (SMR) 02:42:03h
#2 Paolo Degiacomi (ITA) 02:42:15h
#3 Maikol Reboldi (ITA) 02:52:47h
SSV’s
#1 A. Turgut / H. Deynek (TUR) 02:51:17h
#2 P. Severin / D. Delfino (GBR) 03:03:31h
#3 M. Andreev / M. A. Pop (ROM) 03:05:58h
TRUCK
#1 M. Mutti / A. Mazzoleni (ITA) 05:27:07h
CARS
#1 H. Kurt / Ö. Dölek (TUR) 03:36:58h
#2 B. K. Erim / O. Sirimoğlu (TUR) 03:53:39h
LEG 2 | KÜTAHYA to HAYMANA | 0 km
The TransAnatolia Rally Raid 2025 management, its national and international participants and all the countless service members involved decided to follow a day of mourning.
LEG 3 | HAYMANA to CAPPADOCIA | 430.9 km
The highlight of the third leg was passing Lake Tuz, a dried-up lake in the mountains with a hard salt crusted surface in Central Anatolia. Lake Tuz, also known as Salt Lake, is Turkey’s second biggest lake at 1,665 km2 and one of the world’s largest hyper-saline lakes.
The dry lake surface was both broad and rapid, providing all European participants with a one-of-a-kind driving experience. The light conditions were reflecting, the temperature was visibly high, and the air was salty, making it hostile to both human and machines.
Speed was key here, not so much navigation, at least on the lake. Nevertheless, finding momentum at the right location and a solid navigation skill was important too.
BIKES
#1 Murat Yazici (TUR) 02:58:09h
#2 Livio Metelli (ITA) 03:06:55h
#3 Maikol Reboldi (ITA) 03:16:49h
SSV’s
#1 P. Severin / D. Delfino (GBR) 02:50:39h
#2 L. Maijer / R. Visser (NLD) 03:18:46h
#3 M. Andreev / M. A. Pop (ROM) 03:22:12h
TRUCK
#1 M. Mutti / A. Mazzoleni (ITA) 05:57:30h
CARS
#1 H. Kurt / Ö. Dölek (TUR) 03:38:58h
#2 M. Diker / E. Oral (TUR) 04:15:42h
#3 B. K. Erim / O. Sirimoğlu (TUR) 04:23:10h
LEG 4 | CAPPADOCIA to CAPPADOCIA | 145.7 km
Cappadocia is most certainly the most popular visitor destination in Turkey, as well as one of the most unusual landscapes in the world. Reason to stay for two nights and tent on the mountaintop to experience this amazing landscape, especially at sunrise and sunset. A must see once-in-a-lifetime experience!
Another once-in-a-lifetime experience is driving the numerous trails, whether on two or four wheels. The majority of the trails were stony, on washed-out limestone, with vistas of many small and narrow valleys.
Overtaking was almost hard for any of the participants until the route broadened somewhere and they could see what was ahead.
BIKES
#1 Thomas Marini (SMR) 01:15:37h
#2 Paolo Degiacomi (ITA) 01:20:46h
#3 Robin Lynch (GBR) 01:23:09h
SSV’s
#1 F. Butto / E. Tinaburri (ITA) 01:19:29h
#2 N. Duica / N. Duica (ROM) 03:18:46h
#3 P. Severin / D. Delfino (GBR) 01:26:43h
TRUCK
#1 M. Mutti / A. Mazzoleni (ITA) 02:01:29h
CARS
#1 B. K. Erim / O. Sirimoğlu (TUR) 01:43:40h
#2 H. Kurt / Ö. Dölek (TUR) 01:44:28h
#3 M. Diker / E. Oral (TUR) 01:46:59h
LEG 5 | CAPPADOCIA to CORUM | 424.2 km
On the route north to Corum, this lag reached the TransAnatolia Rally Raid 2025’s highest peak, which was 2.081 meters and cold for Anatolian temperatures.
Grain agriculture is clearly important in the region east of Ankara, hence sandy and dusty farming tracks were literary everywhere on the lowlands. A speedy pace was necessary for the participants to avoid the dust and overtake participants in front.
This fifth lag was a marathon stage with a total of 424 km over dusty tracks and numerous transfer roads, but it was a lovely one that showcased East Anatolia’s beauty as well as the tough climate in which people live and work.
BIKES
#1 Thomas Marini (SMR) 02:08:42h
#2 Paolo Degiacomi (ITA) 02:13:13h
#3 Murat Yazici (TUR) 02:32:19h
SSV’s
#1 P. Severin / D. Delfino (GBR) 02:22:00h
#2 F. Butto / E. Tinaburri (ITA) 02:30:08h
#3 M. Öztiryaki / U. Tepe (TUR) 02:30:28h
TRUCK
#1 M. Mutti / A. Mazzoleni (ITA) 03:36:19h
CARS
#1 M. Diker / E. Oral (TUR) 02:53:24h
#2 B. K. Erim / O. Sirimoğlu (TUR) 02:57:10h
#3 H. Kurt / Ö. Dölek (TUR) 03:28:56h
LEG 6 | CORUM to ESKIPAZAR | 333.5 km
So far, no clear and dominant leader in any class has emerged, with the exception of the truck category, where the Unimog of driver Marino Mutti and co-driver Andrea Mazzoleni competed against itself. All other categories had almost daily changes in the rankings.
The athletes were exhausted by now, and the temperatures were high, even in the highlands. The evenings were somewhat cold with around 25 degrees, at least while camping, but the catering, breakfast, and supper always delivered a welcome feast of Turkish specialities.
There is something extremely special about Turkey; the culture, food, and people merge together wherever you go, and that is precisely how you feel when camping with a huge number of participants in a competition in the middle of nowhere, off the beaten track.
BIKES
#1 Thomas Marini (SMR) 03:13:16h
#2 Paolo Degiacomi (ITA) 03:16:43h
#3 Maikol Reboldi (ITA) 03:26:18h
SSV’s
#1 P. Severin / D. Delfino (GBR) 03:35:14h
#2 M. Öztiryaki / U. Tepe (TUR) 03:45:23h
#3 N. Duica / N. Duica (ROM) 03:55:25h
TRUCK
#1 M. Mutti / A. Mazzoleni (ITA) 05:50:00h
CARS
#1 M. Diker / E. Oral (TUR) 04:20:35h
#2 B. K. Erim / O. Sirimoğlu (TUR) 04:20:44h
LEG 7 | ESKIPAZAR to ABUNT | 212.1 km
The last and final leg of the TransAnatolia Rally Raid 2025, closing in towards Istanbul again. This final stage provided a winner and a total different picture of Turkey with stunning mountain tracks towards the tourist destination of Avant.
Foggy conditions and very heavy rainfall caused the second part of lag seven to be cancelled though. Even the official crossing of the finish line and associated award ceremony was cancelled and instead moved into a nearby hotel.
Not an award ceremony everyone expected, at least location wise in a hotel, but whoever completed the 2.150 kilometers was happy to reach Abunt.
At the end of a week full of action, showcasing the region of Anatolia and representing Turkey at its best, the improvised award ceremony in the hotel lobby provided the following winner in each category:
BIKES FINAL
- Thomas Marini (SMR) 14:27:26h
- Paolo Degiacomi (ITA) 14:32:35h
- Maikol Reboldi (ITA) 15:53:52h
SSV’s FINAL
- P. Severin / D. Delfino (GBR) 15:07:04h
- M. Andreev / M. A. Pop (ROM) 16:32:39h
- L. Maijer / R.Visser (NLD) 17:34:58h
TRUCK FINAL
- M. Mutti / A. Mazzoleni (ITA) 17:02:25h
CARS FINAL
- B. K. Erim / O. Sirimoğlu (TUR) 19:35:35h
- M. Diker / E. Oral (TUR) 28:06:21h
- H. Kurt / Ö. Dölek (TUR) 33:13:21h
TRANSANATOLIA RALLY RAID 2026
In 2026, there will also be a TransAnatolia Rally Raid, which will most likely take place in more difficult terrain and isolated surroundings in East Anatolia, as well as a format with more action and foreign competitors. One thing for sure, no matter where in Anatolia the competitors will “play” in 2026, the landscapes, the food, the people and the culture that go hand in hand with the TransAnatolia Rally Raid are unbeatable. And if a rally raid is not what you favor, you might join the TransAnatolia Raid only for less specific vehicles.
Quelle / Source / Bilder / Pictures: Thomas Pfister, Xposed Motorsport
