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

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.

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

  • 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

Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah won the championship 19 times
Year Driver Car
1984 Qatar Saeed Al-Hajri Porsche 911 SC RS
1985 Qatar Saeed Al-Hajri (2) Porsche 911 SC RS
1986 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica CTC
1987 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica CTC
1988 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica CTC
1989 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1990 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1991 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1992 Saudi Arabia Mamdouh Khayat Lancia Delta HF Integrale
1993 Qatar Hamed Al-Thani Mitsubishi Galant VR4
1994 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1995 Saudi Arabia Abdullah Bakhashab Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1996 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1997 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1998 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Escort WRC
1999 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Focus RS WRC
2000 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Focus RS WRC
2001 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem Ford Focus RS WRC
2002 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem (14) Ford Focus RS WRC
Subaru Impreza WRC
2003 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRC
2004 United Arab Emirates Khalid Al Qassimi Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2005 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2006 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2007 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2008 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2009 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STI
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
2010 Qatar Misfer Al Marri Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2011 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta S2000
2012 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC
Peugeot 207 S2000
2013 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC
2014 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC
2015 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC
2016 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Škoda Fabia R5
2017 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5
2018 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5
2019 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2020 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2021 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2022 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah (18) Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2023 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah (19)
Oman 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

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

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

Wins per nationality

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

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