Where Does Drift Stand in Türkiye? A Brief Report Card from Tracks to Championships

Drift
Author: Lütfi Mete Odabaşı
Creation: 13 October 2026

Drifting, a street culture imported from Japan, has turned into a genuine motorsport in Türkiye under the TOSFED umbrella with an official championship consisting of five rounds.

Share This Page

In Türkiye, drifting has now moved beyond being a street legend and gained the structure of an official championship: in the 2026 season, the Türkiye Drift Championship is run by the Drift Automobile Sports Club under the TOSFED umbrella and with a five-round calendar. Professional drivers compete on the tracks, young names complete series abroad, and local municipalities are opening their own drift tracks. In short, this culture imported from Japan has become a real motorsport in Türkiye - but there are still areas that need work. Let's take a look at its report card.

Highlights

2026 calendar 5 rounds: the opening round was held at TOSFED Istanbul Park on 25-26 April
Gaziantep hosted a round for the first time in the championship's history (23-24 May)
Round 1 was won by Rüzgar Okman, Round 2 by Çağlar Küçükdumlu, and Round 3 was won again by Rüzgar Okman
Berfu Tutumlu won the Red Bull Car Park Drift Türkiye Final and was named Türkiye's best drift driver
The cost of illegal drifting is high: some drivers were fined hundreds of thousands of lira

How Did Drifting Start in Türkiye? The Road from the Industrial Districts to the Track

As everywhere else, the story of drifting in Türkiye started not on the track, but on the asphalt. In the early 2000s, it was born as a passion in empty parking lots in Istanbul's industrial zones and at amateur spots like the Izmit Bay area. Back then there was no championship yet, no scoring, no live broadcast - just a few enthusiasts spinning their cars sideways, leaving tires in clouds of smoke, and asking, "does this count as racing?"

Looking at the global picture, this is no coincidence. Drifting was born on Japan's mountain roads in the 1970s - the touge culture - and became popular through names like Keiichi Tsuchiya, spreading worldwide. Thanks to video games, automotive media, and series like Formula Drift, Japan's underground subculture has become a global motorsport - one where even Uber now offers a drift experience in Tokyo. Türkiye caught this wave late but firmly: amateur meetups first found shelter in clubs, and the clubs then under the TOSFED umbrella.

Today the picture is completely different. There is a Türkiye Drift Championship organized by the Drift Automobile Sports Club and supervised by TOSFED; in addition, even a Türkiye Drift Teams Championship standings table is published on TOSFED's results sites. In other words, things have gotten serious.

2026 Türkiye Drift Championship: How Do the Calendar and Format Work?

The format of the season is probably the most frequently asked question, so let me be clear. According to the Apex Masters calendar, on the same weekend "5 rounds, two championships" are run: in the Drift Pro category, the Türkiye Drift Championship, and in Drift Pro2, the TOSFED Drift Cup. So both veterans and pilots on their way up take to the same track - a great system in my opinion, because it gives young drivers a chance to be watched.

Round	Date	Track
Round 1	25-26 April 2026	TOSFED Istanbul Park
Round 2	23-24 May 2026	Gaziantep, Gazi Track
Round 3	20-21 June 2026	TOSFED Istanbul Park
Round 4	26-27 September 2026	TOSFED Istanbul Park
Round 5	October 24–25, 2026	Istanbul Park

The season opener's schedule also offers a nice idea for drift newcomers: morning practice, TOSFED Drift Cup pairings around midday, then championship qualifying. What's more, the tickets were free and the races were broadcast live on television. You can go to a motorsport with zero ticket cost and watch it right under your nose - In F1 that's not even a dream, but in drift the door is open.

Who Stood Out on the Track?

The name that left its mark on the first half of 2026 is undoubtedly Rüzgar Okman. He won the season opener at Istanbul Park and also closed Round 3 (June 21) with another victory. There's one more detail that makes Okman special: the young driver of Drift NEU Racing Team started turning the wheel as a 12–13-year-old Turkish Cypriot kid, as the youngest name on the track. In Round 2, it was Çağlar Küçükdumlu who lifted the trophy.

The Gaziantep round could also be the most meaningful news of the season: For the first time in the championship's history, it was held in Gaziantep. Hosted by the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, 16 professional drivers competed, among them 4 athletes from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. In the Round 2 Top 16 pairings, the duels of Doğuş Can Dursun–Görkem Eren, Berfu Tutumlu–Kemal Soylu, Abdullah Bostan–Muhammet Başer and Çağlar Küçükdumlu–Mehmet Yazgan were watched. Meanwhile, the increase in the number of foreign drivers throughout the season is also striking - TRNC drivers coming all the way to Gaziantep is the clearest sign of this.

Where Are the Legal Drift Tracks in Türkiye? Is the Infrastructure Sufficient?

Pist yoksa genç direksiyonu meydana çevirir; Türkiye driftinin en kırılgan noktası, altyapı açığı ile sokak talebi arasındaki gerilimdir.

This is the crucial question, in my opinion. The main facilities are the TOSFED Körfez Race Track (Kocaeli), İzmir Park and Intercity Istanbul Park; but the number of official drift tracks across Türkiye is not tracked precisely. In other words, there is demand, while supply is still in recovery.

The good news is this: in 2026, local investments gained momentum. In April, the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Race Track opened; the Kahramanmaraş Dulkadiroğlu Municipality put a drift track into service; the Kütahya Fairground Drift Track was brought into service, and the Nevşehir Cappadocia Motorsports Complex came to prominence with a feature promoted as "the first in Türkiye." The fact that Sivas and Nevşehir made these investments despite not having metropolitan status is being cited as an example for other municipalities.

But there is another side to the coin. In Ordu, the drift track promised to the youth has not been realized for more than two years following the local elections. The tension between the infrastructure gap and the demand for street drifting is this sport's most fragile point in Türkiye. Because when there is no track, young drivers turn their wheels to public squares - and the bill comes in steep: two drivers drifting in Kırıkkale were fined a total of 280 thousand lira, and one driver in Büyükçekmece a total of 363 thousand lira . In short, legal tracks are free, while illegal drifting costs hundreds of thousands of lira.

Where Are Turkish Drivers Racing Abroad?

This is the brightest line on the report card. Turkish drivers are no longer just stars of the local scene; they have started writing their names into the calendars of the world.

A Turkish driver, 2026 Nürburgring Drift Cup completed the season from start to finish, experiencing for the first time the pride of completing an entire season of a drift series abroad.
Drift NEU Racing Team, 2026 Drift Masters Grand Prix competed with both of its drivers at Ferropolis in Germany at the penultimate round.
Known by the nickname "SUPERKEMAL", Kemal Soylu is recognized for his aggressive driving style and competes in the Balkan Drift Cup.
Berfu Tutumlu won the Red Bull Car Park Drift Türkiye Final in Bursa, earning the title of "Türkiye's best drift driver"; it was then announced that she would compete with the Turkish team at the FIA Motorsport Games.

Let me put this in context: Drift Masters Grand Prix is the world's leading professional drift series, while Formula DRIFT is the pioneering series where the world's best drivers compete. The 2026 Drift Masters season opened at Vallelunga near Rome, and the opening round was won by reigning champion Irishman Conor Shanahan; James Deane finished second and Piotr Więcek third. The fact that Turkish drivers are passing through the doors of these leagues shows we have reached a level that was unimaginable even ten years ago. The next goal, in my view, is to wave the flag in Formula DRIFT - who knows, maybe it is not far off.

Sponsorship and Economics: Tires Wear Out, Where Does the Money Come From?

The most beautiful thing about drifting is how it captivates spectators; the hardest thing is the fragility of the economy that keeps it alive. The 2025 championship was organized with the contributions of ICRYPEX, Spor Toto and HT Spor; in 2026, Spor Toto and HT Spor are providing support as well. There are examples at the brand level too: Falken became a sponsor of Driftherapy, described as "Türkiye's only professional drift show team"; Tatko/LastikPark, meanwhile, became the sponsor of Alpha, presented as "Türkiye's strongest drift car."

But at the driver level, the picture is still arduous: Volkan Arısoy openly shared that he was holding sponsorship talks to take part in the 2026 championship. Drift is a sport that burns the car, consumes tires, and requires parts to be replaced between every run - for a driver who cannot find sponsors, passion alone is not enough. The biggest test facing the local scene in the period ahead is to solidify this economic foundation as much as the grassroots one.

Report Card: Where Is Turkish Drift, and Where Is It Headed?

To sum up our notebook: Turkish drift has come from those parking lot meetups in the early 2000s to a solid ecosystem today that includes a national championship, a teams' series, live broadcasts, and international drivers. The five-month calendar, the expansion into new cities like Gaziantep, the arrival of drivers from Northern Cyprus, and names like Rüzgar Okman, Berfu Tutumlu and Kemal Soylu appearing in foreign series earn the report card top marks.

The downsides are also evident: the number of official tracks is still low, municipal promises often remain up in the air, and drivers' search for sponsors continues to be a headache every season. But looking at the overall picture, I am not discouraged - because this sport did not start with money, it started with passion, and that passion is still there. Which city do you think we will race in next season? After seeing the pride of readers from Gaziantep, I think other Anatolian cities are next in line.