Disabled man to race in rallycross contest

İZMİR

With an aim to break ground in a rallycross contest by competing with the country’s prominent racers this summer, a disabled man is spending days in the western province of İzmir training on the racing circuits.

“I am assertive on this; I trust myself,” 32-year-old Haktan Özünver told Demirören News Agency on March 1, adding that he was not afraid to race against “healthy racers.”

Even though his body is 95 percent disabled, he noted that he always had an ambition for sports.

“I graduated from a university’s Physical Education and Sports Department and participated in various kinds of sports activities,” he highlighted.

During his youth, he became a wheelchair basketball player and presented Turkey in many international arenas while playing for the national wheelchair basketball team.

In his own words, now it’s the time to “race and speed up.”

“I was a speedy basketball player. I have no problem with speed because my brain works with high speed,” he said proudly.

For him, the race in the summer will be just a new start in his life. “I want to race more in local and international contests,” he noted.

All he is looking for is a “sponsor.” “I can race better with better types of equipment,” he expressed.

Working as an educational specialist in a public institution, Özünver is now taking advanced driving lessons from his instructor, Bahadır Sevinç.

“To tell the truth, when he first came and said he wanted to race, I never gave him a chance. I did not expect him to succeed in such a performance,” Sevinç said, applauding his student’s ambition.

“Seeing him race in the content will open the way for all other disabled people,” Sevinç added.