2019 Middle East Rally Championship Explained

The 2019 Middle East Rally Championship was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was to be contested over five events held in five Middle East countries from March to November. One event, the Cyprus Rally, is shared with the 2019 European Rally Championship. The season-ending Kuwait International Rally was cancelled.

Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah won his fifteenth MERC championship and his ninth consecutively. Al-Attiyah won all four rallies contested. Fellow Qatari driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari was second in the championship but scored less than half the points Al-Attiyah scored. Al-Kuwari was second in Qatar and Jordan but would score only four points for the rest of the season. Kuwaiti driver Meshari Al-Thefiri was again third in the championship.

Event calendar and results

The 2019 MERC was as follows:^[1]

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
	Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	Manateq Qatar International Rally (14–16 March)^[2]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	1:56:18.8	11	203.72 km	22	14
2		Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Škoda Fabia R5	1:59:48.4
3		Hamed Al-Thani	Ford Fiesta R5	2:07:22.4
2	Jordan Rally (25–27 April)^[3]	align=center	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	3:00:48.5	21	244.09 km	22	11
align=center		2	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Škoda Fabia R5	3:04:56.7
align=center		3	Marouf Abu Samra	Ford Fiesta R5	3:08:27.6
3	Rally of Lebanon (30 August–1 September)^[4]	align=center	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	2:06:19.3	11	215.94 km	24	15
align=center		2	Rodrigue Rahi	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	align=center	2:13:28.6
align=center		3	Patrick Njeim	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	align=center	2:14:55.6
4	Cyprus Rally (27–29 September)^[5]	align=center	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	3:02:51.3	12	199.76 km	53	34
align=center		2	Chris Ingram	Škoda Fabia R5	3:06:42.2
align=center		3	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Fiesta R5	align=center	3:07:25.3
5	Kuwait International Rally (31 October–2 November)	Cancelled

Championship standings

The 2019 MERC for Drivers points was as follows:^[6]

Driver Vehicle QAT JOR LBN CYP Total 1 Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 1 1 1 1 155 2 Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Škoda Fabia R5 2 2 8 65 3 Meshari Al-Thefiri Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 6 4 6 44 4 Rodrigue Rahi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2 30 5 Chris Ingram Škoda Fabia R5 2 27 6 Marouf Abu Samra Ford Fiesta R5 3 25 Patrick Njeim Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3 25 8 Hamed Al-Thani Ford Fiesta R5 3 24 9 Mikko Hirvonen Ford Fiesta R5 3 21 10 Henry Massaad Citroën DS3 R3T 4 20 11 Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5 4 Ret Ret 19 12 Łukasz Habaj Škoda Fabia R5 4 18 13 Khalid Mohammad Al-Suwaidi Ford Fiesta R5 5 16 Niki Mayr-Melnhof Ford Fiesta R2 5 16 15 Tarek Younis Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 15 16 Henry Kahy Škoda Fabia R2 12 6 10 13 17 Khaled Juma Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 6 12 18 Albert von Thurn und Taxis Škoda Fabia R2 evo 6 11 19 Shadi Shabaan Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 7 8 20 Stefano Marrini Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 7 7 Albert Hayek Renault Clio R3 7 7 Emilio Fernández Škoda Fabia R2 evo 7 7 23 Rashid Al-Mohannadi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 8 4 Ahmad Khaled Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Ret 11 Ret 4 Nassib Nassar Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 8 4 26 Abdullah Al-Kuwari Subaru WRX STI 9 3 Saeed Al-Mouri Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Ret Ret 3 Raafat Al-Mohtar Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 12 3 29 Zakariya Ahmed Al-Aufi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Ret 2 Alex Feghali Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Peugeot 208 R2 Ret 11 2 Norbert Herczig Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 9 2 32 Abdullah Al-Rawahi Subaru Impreza STi N14 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 11 Ret Ret 1 Paulo Nobre Škoda Fabia R5 10 1

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Notes and References

1. Web site: Events Calendar Season 2019. FIA.com. 28 January 2020 . Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 6 April 2020.
2. Web site: 44. Manateq Qatar International Rally 2019. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 18 March 2019. 6 April 2020.
3. Web site: Jordan Rally 2019. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 28 April 2019. 6 April 2020.
4. Web site: 42. Rally of Lebanon 2019. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 1 September 2019. 6 April 2020.
5. Web site: 48. Cyprus Rally 2019. EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 3 October 2019. 6 April 2020.
6. Web site: Classifications: FIA Middle East Rally Championship . 28 January 2020 . . 17 August 2020.