Racing driver Cem Bölükbaşı, who started competing on real tracks after winning championships on virtual tracks, will participate in Formula 3 Asia championship for a full season for the first time in his career, supported by the Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA).
Cem Bölükbaşı continues his success on real tracks, where he has been a professional racing driver for the past two seasons after winning several world championships in e-sports. Bölükbaşı will participate in Formula Racing Series for a full season and race in the 2021 Formula 3 Asia Championship. He will be the driver of the BlackArts Racing Team at the F3 Series which will include a total of 15 races. Supported by TGA, Cem Bölükbaşı will represent Turkey in F3 Asia 2021 season with his gotürkiye logo branded car as part of the sponsorship.
The F3 Asia Series will kick off on January 29-30 in Dubai. In the first weekend, there will be a total of three races. On February 4-5 and February 6-7 in Abu Dhabi Yas Marina, there will be a total of six races. Bölükbaşı will race in the same team with successful drivers such as Lorenzo Fluxa, Zdenek Chovanec, and Rafael Villagomez. He will race in a total of six races, three on February 12-14 and three on February 19-20 at the last two legs, and in total, he will race in 15 single-seater races.
As one of the most successful and rare examples of the transition from e-sport to real racing, Bölükbaşı is closely followed by the authorities and he had his first F3 experience in 2019, at Formula Renault Eurocup’s 9th leg, in Hockenheim Circuit. In the 2019 and 2020 seasons, at GT4 European Championships, Bölükbaşı was in BAM team. He completed the 2020 season as one of the drivers in the BAM team, in second place in the Pro-AM category.
During Formula 3 Asia championship, viewers can follow goturkiye Instagram account where live posts will be shared to keep up with the race.
About Cem Bölükbaşı
Cem Bölükbaşı, a young driver who serves as an example in the world as an athlete who has demonstrated significant success in both e-sports and real motorsports at the same time, is closely followed by local and international authorities due to his proven track record. In 2017, Cem Bölükbaşıcompeted in the Formula Esports World Championship, finishing in fifth place in the world and becoming the first driver to be selected for Formula 1 Champion Fernando Alonso’s Simracing team. As one of the top 20 players among 70,000 players who participated in F1 Esports in 2018, he became the world’s number one in the ProDraft selections. He later joined Redbull Toro Rosso Formula 1 team and became the world-runner up with his team.
Bölükbaşı made his first appearance on real tracks in the GT4 European Series 2019 championship. Competing in two legs of the tournament as the driver selected by Borusan Automotive Motorsport (BAM) under the young talents project, Bölükbaşı experienced his first podium excitement by finishing second in the PRO-AM category in only the second real track race of his career at the Misano circuit.
Bölükbaşı completed the first Formula race of his career in October 2019, in Formula Renault Eurocup’s Hockenheim circuit as a member of M2 Competition team and sparked the authorities and motorsports enthusiasts’ attention with his performance in his first single-seater car race. He became the first SIM driver in the world to make it to the real track in Formula Renault Championship.
Competing in his first full season with the BAM team at the GT4 European Series 2020 championship, Bölükbaşı managed to finish the season in second place in the Pro-Am category.
Bölükbaşı became the World Champion in the Formula Renault Esport Series, which was held for the first time in 2020, by demonstrating his strength in simulation in a total of eight races.
Keep up with Cem Bölükbaşı on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Twitch.
About TGA:
The Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) is dedicated to delivering Turkey as a brand and a popular destination in both domestic and international tourism markets; discovering, developing and promoting tangible and intangible natural, cultural, biological and manmade heritage assets; boosting Turkey’s tourism capacity and the ratio of tourism investments in the national economy and improving the quality of service with short, medium and long-term communication and marketing activities. In line with tourism strategies and policies set by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Agency carries out all promotion, marketing and communication activities to help Turkey achieve its tourism goals, promote and market current tourism opportunities across the globe, and discover, improve and develop potential areas of tourism.
