2018 Middle East Rally Championship Explained

The 2018 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 April to November. One event, the Cyprus Rally, is shared with the 2018 European Rally Championship.

Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah won his fourteenth MERC championship and his eighth consecutively. Al-Attiyah won the season opening Jordan Rally and later the Kuwait International Rally which was returning to the schedule after being left of the 2017 calendar. Al-Attiyah was also the leading MERC competitor to finish at the Cyprus Rally. Czech driver Vojtěch Štajf won the last event of the year in Qatar, held just two weeks after Kuwait. He was also second in Jordan and the second placed MERC driver in Cyprus. He was runner up in the championship. Kuwaiti driver Meshari Al-Thefiri was third in the championship finishing second in Kuwait and third in Jordan. Lebanese veteran Roger Feghali's one-off appearance at his home event saw him win the rally for the fourteenth time.

Event calendar and results

The 2018 MERC was as follows:^[1]

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
	Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	Jordan Rally (26–28 April)^[2]	align=center	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta R5	1:56:30.3	14	167.80 km	13	12
align=center		2	Vojtěch Štajf	Škoda Fabia R5	2:04:33.5
align=center		3	Meshari Al-Thefiri	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	2:06:50.3
2	Cyprus Rally (15–17 June)^[3]	align=center	1	Simos Galatariotis	Škoda Fabia R5	1:55:40.2	13	180.91 km	59	46
align=center		2	Bruno Magalhães	Škoda Fabia R5	1:55:40.8
align=center		3	Norbert Herczig	Škoda Fabia R5	align=center	1:57:01.6
3	Rally of Lebanon (6–8 July)^[4]	align=center	1	Roger Feghali	Škoda Fabia R5	2:07:43.0	11	222.86 km	27	20
align=center		2	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta R5	align=center	2:09:07.4
align=center		3	Rodolphe Asmar	Škoda Fabia R5	align=center	2:14:06.3
4	Kuwait International Rally (1–3 November)^[5]	align=center	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta R5	1:58:24.6	13	198.52 km	13	10
align=center		2	Meshari Al-Thefiri	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	2:10:43.8
align=center		3	Jasem Al-Maqahwi	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	2:26:27.7
5	International Rally of Qatar (15–17 November)^[6]	1	Vojtěch Štajf	Škoda Fabia R5	1:39:46.7	10	153.82 km	16	6
2		Adel Hussein	Ford Fiesta R5	1:43:54.5
3		Abdullah Al-Kuwari	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	1:52:48.0

Championship standings

The 2018 MERC for Drivers points was as follows:^[7]

Driver Vehicle JOR CYP LBN KUW QAT Total 1 Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5 1 1 2 1 Ret 153 2 Vojtěch Štajf Škoda Fabia R5 2 2 5 4 1 131 3 Meshari Al-Thefiri Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3 8 2 Ret 59 4 Roger Feghali Škoda Fabia R5 1 38 5 Khaled Juma Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 4 5 32 Henry Kahy Škoda Fabia R2 7 17 9 7 6 32 7 Adel Hussein Ford Fiesta R5 2 29 8 Christos Demosthenous Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3 25 9 Abdullah Al-Kuwari Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3 24 Rodolphe Asmar Škoda Fabia R5 3 24 11 Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3 19 Alexandros Tsouloftas Citroën DS3 R5 4 19 Eddy Abou-Karam Hyundai i20 R5 4 19 14 Mohamed Al-Meer Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 4 17 Ihab Al-Shorafa Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 6 8 17 16 Ahmad Shabaan Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 16 17 Savvas Savva Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 15 18 Rashid Al-Mohannadi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 14 19 Costas Zenonos Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 6 12 20 Abdullah Al-Rawahi Subaru Impreza STi N14 Ret 15 6 Ret 11 Rony Kanaan Citroën DS3 R3T 6 11 22 Panayiotis Yiangou Hyundai i20 R5 7 8 23 Matthias Njeim Peugeot 208 R2 7 7 24 George Englezou Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 8 5 Panikos Polykarpou Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 9 5 26 Asem Aref Renault Clio 8 4 27 Salah Bin Eidan Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Ret 3 Michel Slaiby Ford Fiesta R5 Ret 3 29 Costas Laos Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 11 1 Kyriakos Kyriakou Subaru Impreza STi R4 12 1

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Notes and References

1. Web site: Season 2018 Middle East Rally Championship. FIA.com. 31 January 2019 . Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 11 April 2019.
2. Web site: Jordan Rally 2018. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 11 May 2018. 11 April 2019.
3. Web site: 47. Cyprus Rally 2018. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 21 June 2018. 11 April 2019.
4. Web site: 41. Rally of Lebanon 2018. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 11 July 2018. 11 April 2019.
5. Web site: Kuwait International Rally 2018. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 4 November 2018. 11 April 2019.
6. Web site: 43. Manateq - International Rally of Qatar 2018. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 19 November 2018. 11 April 2019.
7. Web site: Classifications: FIA Middle East Rally Championship . 31 January 2019 . . 11 April 2019.