Peking to Paris car rally teams arrive in Türkiye

ERZURUM

Teams competing in the 8th Peking to Paris Classic Automobile Rally, which will showcase their cars in Istanbul on June 16 and 17, arrived in Türkiye via Georgia on June 12.

The contestants of the car rally rolled into the eastern province of Erzurum with a total of 70 classic cars. Making their way to the Palandöken Ski Resort, the teams then proceeded with their car maintenance before taking a rest.

Following their break in Erzurum, racers will set off to the central province of Sivas and then to the capital Ankara, where they will stay the night before they move on to Istanbul.

Parcel Peumans, a Belgian citizen racing in the competition as a co-pilot of a 1934-model Bentley, stressed that they had only four days to rest during the tough 37-day journey and he had to drive on the remaining 33 days, “I only do this for the thrill,” he said.

Expressing that he was extremely pleased to come all the way to Türkiye, “I was happy to travel through modern cities with planned urbanization after arriving in Gürcistan [Georgia],” he said, citing that they had previously driven across plains and deserts.

Peumans indicated that the most down-level car of the competition, a 1912-model automobile, had burned out and seven others have opted out of the competition as a result of break downs.

Referring to the high value of the classic cars, he stated that “it was presumably possible to buy a huge house in Europe with the price of the car they drove in the rally,” adding that “it was a Bentley after all.”

The cars parked in the hotel’s parking lot held center stage as people rolled up to take souvenir photos, most of whom claimed to see such cars for the first time in their lives.