Middle East Rally Championship

The Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) is a motor rally championship run under the auspicies of the FIA. First held in 1984 the championship encompasses a series of rallies held across Western Asia. The championship has featured long-running events like Rally of Lebanon, Rally Oman and the Troodos Rally in Cyprus as well as World Rally Championship event Jordan Rally. Many of the rallies in the region pre-date national independence, mostly from the United Kingdom.

Middle East Rally Championship
CategoryR5
Rally2
Group N
CountryMiddle East
Inaugural season1984
Drivers' championQatar Nasser Al-Attiyah
Oman Abdullah Al-Rawahi
Current season

The championship has been dominated by Nasser Al-Attiyah who has won 19 titles.

The championship features events in Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The championship has also visited Bahrain, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

List of events

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  • Qatar International Rally (1984–present)
  • Kuwait International Rally (1984–85, 1987–89, 1995–96, 2009–2016, 2018–present)
  • Bahrain International Rally (1984, 2000–02, 2004–05)
  • Jordan Rally (1984–88, 1990, 1992–present)
  • Oman International Rally (1984–88, 1990–94, 1998, 2004–07, 2015)
  • Dubai International Rally, United Arab Emirates (1984–88, 1990–95, 1997–2015)
  • Rally of Lebanon, (1987–88, 1991–2004, 2006–present)
  • UAE International Rally, United Arab Emirates (1989, 1995–2001, 2004–06)
  • Tour of Cyprus, (1998–1999)
  • Troodos Rally, Cyprus, (2000–2009, 2011)
  • Syria International Rally, (2001–05, 2007–10)
  • Cyprus Rally, (2007–08, 2010, 2012–present)
  • Sharqia Rally, Saudi Arabia, (2010)
  • Shiraz Rally, Iran, (2015–17)

Champions

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Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah won the championship 19 times
Year Driver Car
1984   Saeed Al-Hajri Porsche 911 SC RS
1985   Saeed Al-Hajri (2) Porsche 911 SC RS
1986   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica CTC
1987   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica CTC
1988   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica CTC
1989   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1990   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1991   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1992   Mamdouh Khayat Lancia Delta HF Integrale
1993   Hamed Al-Thani Mitsubishi Galant VR4
1994   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1995   Abdullah Bakhashab Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1996   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1997   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1998   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Escort WRC
1999   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Focus RS WRC
2000   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Focus RS WRC
2001   Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Focus RS WRC
2002   Mohammed Ben Sulayem (14) Ford Focus RS WRC
Subaru Impreza WRC
2003   Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRC
2004   Khalid Al Qassimi Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2005   Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2006   Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2007   Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2008   Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2009   Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
2010   Misfer Al Marri Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2011   Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta S2000
2012   Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC
Peugeot 207 S2000
2013   Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC
2014   Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC
2015   Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC
2016   Nasser Al-Attiyah Škoda Fabia R5
2017   Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5
2018   Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5
2019   Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2020   Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2021   Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2022   Nasser Al-Attiyah (18) Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2023   Nasser Al-Attiyah (19)
  Abdullah Al-Rawahi [N 1]
Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo
Footnotes
  1. ^ The 2023 championship was awarded to both Nasser Al-Attiyah and Abdullah Al-Rawahi, after a perfect tie between the two could not be settled by a six-man FIA committee.[1]

Rally winners

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230 Rallies (after Cyprus 2023), 39 different winners, following are the winners stats:

Driver Wins
  Nasser Al-Attiyah 81
  Mohammed Ben Sulayem 60
  Roger Feghali 16
  Saeed Al-Hajri 11
  Khalid Al Qassimi 8
  Andreas Tsouloftas 4
  Abdullah Al-Rawahi
  Abdullah Bakhashab 3
  Björn Waldegård
  Jean-Pierre Nasrallah
  Yazeed Al-Rajhi
  Suhail bin Maktoum 2
  Khalifa Al-Mutaiwi
  Michel Saleh
  Abdulaziz Al Kuwari
  Charalambos Thimotheou
  Khalid Al Suwaidi
  Amjad Farrah 1
  Andreas Peratikos
  Chris Thomas
  Samir Ghanem
  Abdullah Al-Qassimi
  Abbas Al-Motaiwi
  Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah
  Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani
  Maurice Sehnaoui
  Tony Georgiou
  Alex Fiorio
  Piero Liatti
  Russell Brookes
  Alain Oreille
  Nizar Shanfari
  Nicos Thomas
  Rashed El-Ketbi
  Nicolas Amiouni
  Tamer Ghandour
  Rodolphe Asmar
  Rashid El-Naimi
  Vojtěch Štajf

Wins per nationality

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Count as after Cyprus 2023

Driver Wins
  Qatar 100
  United Arab Emirates 74
  Lebanon 27
  Cyprus 9
  Saudi Arabia 6
  Oman 5
  Sweden 3
  Italy 2
  Jordan 1
  France
  United Kingdom
  Czech Republic

References

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  1. ^ "The rally title decided by a committee meeting". 23 Nov 2023.
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