Orhan Closing In on Title After Rally Kocaeli Win
The 39th Kocaeli Metropolitan Rally, organised by the Kocaeli Automobile Sports Club, was held with 59 cars and 138 competitors. 
The fourth rally of the 2022 season, backed by title sponsor ICRYPEX, ended with victory for Orhan Avcıoğlu and Burçin Korkmaz, who compete for Toksport WRT in a Skoda Fabia R5. The national team driver also won Class 2, and with this victory made it four wins from four to extend his lead in the Shell Helix 2022 Turkish Rally Championship. 
Second overall went to the Toksport WRT crew of Cem Alakoç and Gürkal Menderes, while Burak Çukurova and Burak Akçay of BC Vision Motorsport took third overall. Castrol Ford Team Türkiye won the manufacturers' award and Toksport WRT the teams' award. 
In the two-day, challenging gravel rally, the class wins were shared by Efe Ünver and Bahadır Gücenmez of Castrol Ford Team Türkiye in Class 3, Burak Başlık and Bahadır Özcan of the same team in Class 4 and the 2WD category, Emre Erciyas and Hakan Uçucu of GP Garage My Team in Class N, and Menderes Okur and Özden Yılmaz of Renault Clio Trophy Türkiye in Class 5. The junior driver win went to Red Bull driver Ali Türkkan of Castrol Ford Team Türkiye.
In the historic category, open to classic rally cars, Üstün Üstünkaya and Kerim Tar of Parkur Racing took the overall win and the Category 2 win. Onur Çelikyay and Serdar Canbek finished second and won Category 1 in a Murat 124, while father-and-son crew Ömer Gür and Levent Gür took third in a Murat 131.
The 39th Kocaeli Metropolitan Rally, which also awarded points to the Oğuz Gürsel TOSFED Rally Cup, ended in this class with Levent Şapçılar and Deniz Gümüş of Castrol Ford Team Türkiye taking the overall and Category 4 win. Hakan Gürel and Çağatay Kolaylı of the same team won second overall and Category 2, with third going to Erhan Akbaş and Ersen Yıldız of GP Garage My Team. In the Cup, Yasin Güleç and Caner Akgenç won Category 3, and Kemal Çetinkaya and Tolga Tezeken won Category 1.
The Shell Helix 2022 Turkish Rally Championship continues with the Royal Teos Aegean Rally, organised by the Aegean Automobile Sports Club (EOSK) on 15-16 October.
