Ayhancan Güven: The Porsche driver hoping to cement Turkey’s place on the motorsport map

When it comes to Turkish representation at the highest levels of international motorsport, the two names that inevitably come to mind are Kenan Sofuoglu and Toprak Razgatlioglu. Both world champions - both on two wheels. Ayhancan Güven’s face lights up when you mention those names, but along with that excitement there is an awareness that same heights have not been scaled just yet in four-wheel racing - and a sense of responsibility in changing that. He is used to being the one Turk in most races he enters. "I really have the support from the country, because they know more or less where I come from, they know how challenging it is," he says, before joking: "And I'm the only one! They cannot support someone else, because I'm the only one!" Arriving to the top level in racing is "challenging" enough in principle - but Güven’s unique path has been more complicated than even that suggests. The formative years that his current rivals and peers had spent honing their craft in international karting were in Güven’s case spent racing only online while waiting for his big break. That was before entering the Porsche ladder of championships put him on course for a future that has now become reality: that of a Porsche champion representing the brand in major GT races and in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with customer team Manthey EMA.

Before all of that, there was Istanbul Park, the world championship-level track that opened in 2005 close to where Güven lived. "Every race that came there... I watched all of them," he recalls, and that includes the DTM. By then he had already started karting.

"I don't have any connection to Europe from my family, we are a really Turkish family, so it was just me and my father trying to see what we can do. “We went on the internet, we looked at races and where the good drivers were coming from. I started racing [karts] in Italy, in 2011, for one season. It was quite a successful year - I was already competitive from mid-season to end-season - but then we ran out of budget so we stopped." That pumped the brakes on his career - in the real world, at least. Denied his progression up the karting ladder, Güven got more and more into simracing - at one point he'd made himself into one of the leading Gran Turismo players in the world. But he hadn't pivoted for good, and when opportunity arose to race in Turkey again, this time in touring cars, he converted it into success at the national level and the beginning of his plan to make this his profession. Porsche Sports Cup in Germany, a one-make series for drivers of varying experience levels, was that beginning. "There were Turkish gentlemen drivers doing it, and I asked them for the support. They did a big part of the driving, then at the end of the day I could do two or three laps... in the beginning. Then, when they found out I'm quick, I started driving more, because they wanted to end up on the podium."

Güven kannte die "Schritte", die er von da an gehen musste, wobei er die Porsche-Motorsportleiter über die verschiedenen Porsche 911 GT3 Cup-Markenwettbewerbe bevorzugte. "Ich verfolgte viele GT-Rennen, ich schaue mir immer noch Rennen auf der ganzen Welt an, und ich erinnerte mich daran, dass die jungen Nachwuchsfahrer wie Earl Bamber, Matteo [Cairoli], Dennis [Olsen], Matt [Campbell], [Mathieu] Jaminet immer die Jungs waren, die den nächsten Schritt machten. Und ich sagte zumir: 'Okay, das ist die einzige Chance, ein Profi-Rennfahrer zu werden'.” "Bei den Porsche Cups ist es auch so, dass das Cup-Auto ein ziemlich schwieriges Auto ist - es gibt kein ABS oder Traktionskontrolle, also kommt es mehr auf den Fahrer an als in anderen Autos. Ich wusste also, dass das die Chance war, weil man dort zeigen sein Talent zeigen konnte. Und wenn man im Cup talentiert ist, gibt es gute Teams, die einen unterstützen würden.” "Ich wusste, dass das meine einzige Chance war, die ich ergreifen konnte, und ich schlug diese Richtung ein. Ich habe in der Türkei Ingenieurwesen studiert, aber dann habe ich die Entscheidung getroffen, dass ich mein Studium für zwei Jahre unterbreche, um mich auf den Rennsport zu konzentrieren. Sollte ich es nicht schaffen, wollte ich nach zwei Jahren zurückzukehren." Es stellte sich heraus, dass Güven es schaffen konnte. Er konnte es wirklich, wirklich schaffen. Seine Entschlossenheit, daraus eine Karriere zu machen, führte zu einem Titel im Porsche GT3 Cup Benelux, zu zwei Titeln im Porsche Carrera Cup France und zu drei Jahren Meisterschaftskampf in der Top-Serie des Systems, dem Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup.

All that while learning on the fly, a fish out of water geographically but also in terms of racing experience. "To be honest, it's always taken a long time to embed into teams' atmosphere for me - because first they want to see you, they see you are fast but they want to see that you are consistent, not once but always. "Then also culturally, it's a bit different for me from where I grew up, so year-by-year now - now I’ve been in Europe for eight years - I've adapted more, but in the beginning it was a bigger difference for me. “It was not easy, because I know I have pure talent, but I was missing a lot of experience and background from karting and everything." As an example, Güven cites the fact that he was oblivious to the concept of side drafting - which is when the pursuing car is able to, by drawing alongside the leading car, redirect airflow and thus create extra drag for that leading car and compromise its straightline speed performance. "I guess most of the drivers know it early in their careers, but I know I was racing still in Supercup, and fighting for the championship, and sometimes after the race I was thinking 'why is this happening on the straight line, where I'm really quick, and the guy just passed me like a different class?'. "I didn't know what a side draft was, how it worked, because I didn't have this background - but luckily with Sascha, I started to learn these things as well." Sascha in this case is Sascha Maassen, the coach responsible for the Porsche Junior drivers. Güven was part of the programme for two seasons after entering in 2020. "I think this is the advantage of the junior programme. I developed as a driver, not only in the driving, but also the feedback side, and in preparation and communication with the teams. I think I have come quite a long way."

Accolades continued to accumulate, too. In 2022, Güven and Christian Engelhart were a close second in ADAC GT Masters in a Porsche 911 GT3 R run by Team Joos Sportwagentechnik. Güven also made his first steps in the DTM, getting on to the podium with Porsche customer outfit KÜS Team Bernhard the following season. Then, in 2024 he achieved the biggest success of his young career yet - winning the Bathurst 12 Hours on debut in a Porsche 992-Generation GT3 R - also making its debut - co-driven by Matt Campbell and Laurens Vanthoor. "He was very impressive in Bathurst," said managing director Nicolas Raeder, who heads up the Manthey EMA team that fielded the winning car. "He didn't know the track, and he drove the first time in the wet, and I think it's the most difficult racetrack - because people struggle much more than [even] on Nordschleife. Nordschleife I think you can learn it better with a simulator, I think Bathurst has some special things that are difficult to learn on the simulator. "I am not 100 percent sure that's correct, but I see how the people struggle on such a short track like Bathurst and it seems very difficult, and he [Güven] did a very very good job, he started slowly in difficult conditions and on the ends of his stints he was fast. So he took a look, carefully, he learned very fast, and this was very-very important."

He has also linked up with EMA Manthey in the DTM, where the season has been complicated so far but a first visit to the top 10 last time out at the Norisring provided a welcome pick-me-up.

Bathurst was a big one to tick off, but there are more trophies Güven is eyeing up. "I think for all sportscar drivers the four big races - Daytona, Le Mans, Spa, Nurburgring [where Güven finished second this season] - for sure it's the ultimate goal. And also I'm in the DTM so I would like to win DTM as well." But there's also the ambition of living up to his status as a trailblazer. "Already I can see now with the karting and everything, we have a lot of good guys coming, so I'm sure in 10-15 years we will have a lot more Turkish drivers, which are quite talented. "They are coming hot. I am happy that I'm the first generation. I have this responsibility that I always feel on track. I feel I'm an example for the coming drivers, so I always try to be as professional as possible. "But it's also one of my visions for my country, to open the doors for the future."