The Most Famous
RACING DRIVERS from Türkiye
This page contains a list of the greatest Turkish Racing Drivers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,080 Racing Drivers, 1 of which were born in Türkiye. This makes Türkiye the birth place of the 46th most number of Racing Drivers behind Chile, and Zimbabwe.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Turkish Racing Drivers of all time. This list of famous Turkish Racing Drivers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Alfonso Thiele (1920 - 1986)
With an HPI of 55.41, Alfonso Thiele is the most famous Turkish Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages on wikipedia.
Alfonso Thiele (5 April 1920 – 15 July 1986) was an Italian and American racing driver. He participated in one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, on 4 September 1960. He scored no championship points. Most of his career was spent in sports car racing.
2. Kenan Sofuoğlu (b. 1984)
With an HPI of 45.68, Kenan Sofuoğlu is the 2nd most famous Turkish Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Kenan Sofuoğlu (born 25 August 1984 in Kuzuluk, Akyazı) is a Turkish parliamentarian and former professional motorcycle racer. He holds a record five Supersport World Championship titles (2007, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016). Sofuoğlu also competed at the Superbike World Championship in 2008 and at the Moto2 World Championship in 2010 and 2011. Sofuoğlu announced his retirement from racing in May 2018, and became an elected politician in June 2018. He made a brief comeback appearance at the Imola, Italy, World Championship event on 13 May where he qualified in third place but entered the pit lane immediately after the sighting lap, choosing to withdraw from the race. Sofuoğlu suffered injuries in a crash at Phillip Island, Australia, earlier in 2018, exacerbating his previous pelvis fracture from a crash during practice at Magny-Cours, France, on 30 September 2017, which initially appeared to have ended participation in the 2017 season. After a period of only five weeks, he returned to participate in the last meeting at Qatar, finishing the race in third place and totalling enough points to finish second in the championship. Sofuoğlu also competed in Moto2 for the Technomag-CIP team, having made his debut at the end of 2010 and remained with the team for the 2011 season. He previously won the Supersport World Championship with Ten Kate Honda in 2007 and 2010. He raced in the World Superbike Championship for Ten Kate in 2008, but with limited success. Racing for Kawasaki in 2012, Sofuoğlu claimed his third Supersport World Championship at the Portuguese Grand Prix, in the penultimate race. As a five-time champion, Sofuoğlu is the most successful rider to have competed in the Supersport World Championship and holds many records in the class.
People
Pantheon has 2 people classified as Turkish racing drivers born between 1920 and 1984. Of these 2, 1 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Turkish racing drivers include Kenan Sofuoğlu. The most famous deceased Turkish racing drivers include Alfonso Thiele. As of April 2024, 1 new Turkish racing drivers have been added to Pantheon including Kenan Sofuoğlu.
