The Champion Is Decided at İstanbul Park in the Türkiye Drift Championship

In the season finale to be held at Istanbul Park, Çağlar Küçükdumlu's 76-point advantage has compressed the drift championship down to a single day.
In the season finale to be held at Istanbul Park, Çağlar Küçükdumlu's 76-point advantage has compressed the drift championship down to a single day.

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The champion of the 2026 Türkiye Drift Championship will be decided today, Sunday, October 25, after the season finale run at TOSFED Istanbul Park. Rüzgar Okman, 76 points behind Çağlar Küçükdumlu who heads the general standings as the leader with 487 points, keeps his championship hopes alive depending on the result of the final round. The gap between Durali Bostan and Serdar Nartak in the TOSFED Drift Cup will also become clear on the same day; gates open at 10:00 in the morning, with qualifying and final matchups starting from 15:00.

Highlights

  • The season finale is run on Sunday, October 25 at TOSFED Istanbul Park, between 10:00 and 18:00.
  • In the TDŞ, Çağlar Küçükdumlu leads with 487 points; Rüzgar Okman follows 76 points behind with 411 points.
  • In the TOSFED Drift Cup, Durali Bostan is ahead with 518 points, with Serdar Nartak second on 440 points.
  • Schedule: 10:00 practice laps, paddock visit and drift taxi; qualifying and finals after 15:00.
  • Tickets are limited; sales are made through tosfedbilet.com.

How has the points standings shaped the championship race?

After collecting points across five separate rounds throughout the season, the drivers' table looks like this on the morning of the finale: Çağlar Küçükdumlu first with 487 points, Rüzgar Okman second with 411, Abdullah Bostan third with 354, and Doğuş Can Dursun fourth with 307 points. The 76-point gap between Küçükdumlu and Okman is the real point of tension on the day. Laying out the mathematical scenarios with any certainty is difficult, because the points to be distributed on the final day depend on the round result; round wins during the season were rewarded with between 100 and 130 points. This shows that the gap between them could be closed with a single strong result.

Küçükdumlu's season has been built on consistency. He finished second in the first round of the season, and after the opener on April 25, he rose to the top in Round 2, run in Gaziantep on May 23; in that day's final, he beat Doğuş Can Dursun. In Round 3 on June 21, he trailed behind Okman but protected his lead by collecting points. After Round 4 on September 27, the standings came to the final day with a 76-point gap. After Ayak, the standings came to the final day with a 76-point gap.

Why does Rüzgar Okman's rise make the finale suspenseful?

Okman's season is the very story of drifting's youth in this country. In Round 1, he won at Istanbul Park with 92 points; Erol Özteknik followed him with 90, Küçükdumlu with 86, and Akay Akbil with 85 points. In Round 3, he did not let the win slip: he finished first with 130 points while Küçükdumlu collected 125 and Abdullah Bostan 98. A driver who won two of the five rounds and kept his points high in the others carrying a championship chance on the final day is no coincidence in this picture.

As a 12-year-old Turkish Cypriot athlete, Okman is introduced as the youngest driver to win a Pro Category drift race in Türkiye and the world. As someone who has been in this business for many years, I can comfortably say this: it used to be said that a driver had to make mistakes on track until the age of fifteen to hold on in the Pro category; a 12-13 year old kid is now doing championship math as a name who has won two-thirds of the season. Of course, the way the technique is learned has changed too, but nobody asks the age of the hands gripping the steering wheel.

The Durali Bostan - Serdar Nartak battle at the TOSFED Drift Cup

Outside the championship, the class that will create the day's second domino effect: the TOSFED Drift Cup. Here the picture is clearer: Durali Bostan, it seems, collected every point he could across four rounds of the season; he reached 518 points with 113+135+135+135. Serdar Nartak, meanwhile, sits 78 points behind with 440 points. Nartak finishing second in most rounds while his rival took victories one by one is the story behind this gap.

In the cup's final round, the 4th round run at Istanbul Park, Durali Bostan finished first with 135 points; Nartak was again second with 120 points, and Emin Erturgut placed third with 98 points. If Bostan's form continues, the gap will be hard to close today; but it is not out of the question that Nartak could keep his nose ahead by scoring high points on the final day. Even in the smaller classes, the calculation of the last day is different from a tea tasting: when the smoke clears, the picture emerges.

How does the October 25 program unfold?

Dört ayağın dördünü İstanbul Park'ta koşan drift takviminin şampiyonu, bugün padokta lastik dumanının içinden çıkacak.

The event runs from 10:00 to 18:00. The organization is undertaken by the Drift Automobile Sports Club; the final, held with the contributions of Spor Toto, HT Spor, Power App and Reiss Audio, is a day open to spectators as well. There are two details that stand out for spectators: paddock visits and drift taxi experiences. Let me say from firsthand experience: the opportunity to see race cars this up close in the paddock is not offered at every event.

  • 10:00 - Gates open and practice laps
  • During the day - Paddock visits and drift taxi experiences
  • After 15:00 - Qualifying and final matchups
  • 18:00 - Track closes and awards ceremony

Tickets are sold through tosfedbilet.com, and it appears the organizers note that a limited number of tickets remain. For those who want to watch the finale of a calendar that has drifted at the same track across four rounds, this is no ordinary autumn week.

Following the season's trail: Istanbul Park once again at the center

The 2026 calendar has an interesting feature: four of the five-round season were run at Istanbul Park. Only the Gaziantep round, on May 23, was moved to Anatolia. This facility, which has become the main hub of Türkiye's circuit racing, being the one and only arena on the drift side too, both made the organizers' job easier and made the spectators' following of the season sustainable. In the past, drift was a label run in a festive atmosphere in separate cities; now one lane is concentrating around Istanbul and a fixed center.

The season's first round was run at the same track on April 25, and the last one here as well. In the six months in between, a calendar stretching from Gaziantep to Istanbul carried championship contenders in two classes to the final day. This consistency is a separate piece of data showing that the discipline has become institutionalized in Türkiye.

The good news of autumn in Turkish motorsport

Another development coinciding with the same days as the drift final is significant for Turkish motorsport: National rally driver Ali Türkkan became the first Turkish driver to win the FIA World Junior Rally Championship. Türkkan, who topped the series whose final round was held in Chile, brought our country its first result in this field. With a closed book being seen today at Istanbul Park in two classes, and this rise added on top, 2026 closes as a year worth remembering for Turkish motorsport.

Who will be champion becomes clear today

On paper, Küçükdumlu holds the upper hand; a 76-point gap, a 487-point calculation, and the consistent results he achieved throughout the season are in his favor. However, what Okman's two victories tell us is that the gap could melt away today. In drifting, a single round can flip the whole picture; therefore, everyone at the gate before 15:00, when the qualifying rounds begin, will watch the fate of both classes at the same time. In the TOSFED Drift Cup, Nartak's attempt at one final move against Durali Bostan's domination will also take place on the same track, on the same day. Nothing is certain until the awards ceremony; that is precisely the beauty of it.

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