The 2016 Middle East Rally Championship was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested over five events held in five Middle East countries from February to October. The championship was reduced to seven rallies for 2016 season, but the end of season rallies, Oman International Rally and Dubai International Rally were cancelled.
Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah won his twelfth MERC championship and his sixth consecutively. Al-Attiyah won the first three rallies of the season creating an uncatchable buffer once Oman and Dubai were cancelled. Lebanese driver Rodolphe Asmar was second in the championship, securing the runner's up position with victory in Cyprus. Khalid Mohammad Al-Suwaidi was third.
The 2016 MERC was as follows:[1]
| Round | Rally name | Podium finishers | Statistics | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Driver | Car | Time | Stages | Length | Starters | Finishers | ||||
| 1 |  Qatar International Rally(4–6 February)[2] | 1 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Škoda Fabia R5 | 2:03:20.5 | 13 | 241.71 km | 12 | 6 | ||
| 2 | Khalid Mohammad Al-Suwaidi | Ford Fiesta R5 | 2:09:34.6 | ||||||||
| 3 | Rashid Al-Naimi | Subaru WRX Sti | 2:20:42.5 | ||||||||
| 2 | Kuwait International Rally (24–26 March)[3] | align=center | 1 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Škoda Fabia R5 | 2:08:06.1 | 13 | 209.20 km | 23 | 19 | |
| align=center | 2 | Meshari Al-Thefiri | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 2:19:31.0 | |||||||
| align=center | 3 |  Yigit Alpaslan Timur | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 2:20:59.2 | |||||||
| 3 |  Jordan Rally(5–7 May)[4] | align=center | 1 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Škoda Fabia R5 | 2:42:02.2 | 19 | 222.90 km | 18 | 10 | |
| align=center | 2 | Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari | Škoda Fabia R5 | 3:00:20.6 | |||||||
| align=center | 3 | Abdullah Al-Kuwari | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 3:07:40.9 | |||||||
| 4 |  Rally of Lebanon(2–4 September)[5] | align=center | 1 | Tamer Ghandour | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 2:12:26.3 | 11 | 209.10 km | 31 | 22 | |
| align=center | 2 | Abdo Feghali | Škoda Fabia R5 | align=center | 2:15:34.6 | ||||||
| align=center | 3 | Eddy Abou-Karam | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | align=center | 2:16:40.9 | ||||||
| 5 |  Cyprus Rally(7–9 October)[6] | align=center | 1 |  Alexey Lukyanuk | Ford Fiesta R5 | 2:06:55.9 | 14 | 214.38 km | 70 | 47 | |
| align=center | 2 |  Marijan Griebel | Škoda Fabia R5 | 2:09:08.1 | |||||||
| align=center | 3 | Ralfs Sirmacis | Škoda Fabia R5 | align=center | 2:09:51.9 | ||||||
| 6 | Oman International Rally (3–5 November) | event cancelled | |||||||||
| 7 | Dubai International Rally (17–19 November) | event cancelled | |||||||||
The 2016 MERC for Drivers points was as follows:[7]
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