In the less than 12 months, Salih Yoluç had added another notable success to his racing record by clinching the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup on Sunday.
With a dominant victory in the 24 Hours of Spa, he and his Oman Racing with TF Sport teammates Ahmad Al Harthy and Charlie Eastwood simply needed a top five finish in Barcelona and the second place finish more than sealed the deal for the Turkish racer.
The runner-up position in the Pro-Am class ensured that Salih finished on the podium in every round of the endurance season, claiming the title by a comfortable 34-point margin.
For Salih, the Blancpain – including the 24 hours of Spa victory – season bring together a successful year in which he was crowned FIA GT Nations Cup winner last November and together with his run of podium positions in the FIA World Endurance Championship, bodes well as he travels to Fuji this week to compete in the second round of the championship.
“We had a harder weekend than it looked actually,” Salih said, “It was a big struggle in terms of setup, tyre management and we were missing some BoP on top of that, so it was definitely the hardest weekend of the Blancpain season.
“The podium was hugely unexpected due to our pace, but this is racing. I’m really happy to win the Spa 24 and the championship in the same season – two birds with one stone!”
With little time for reflection, Salih travels to Tokyo and then on to Fuji Speedway where 12 months ago he and the team finished in second position.