Middle East Rally Championship Explained

Category:R5
Rally2
Group N
Country/Region:Middle East
Inaugural2:1984
Champion Driver: Nasser Al-Attiyah
Abdullah Al-Rawahi
Current Season:2023 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.

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

Champions

YearDriverCar
1984 Saeed Al-HajriPorsche 911 SC RS
1985 Saeed Al-Hajri (2)Porsche 911 SC RS
1986 Mohammed Ben SulayemToyota Celica CTC
1987 Mohammed Ben SulayemToyota Celica CTC
1988 Mohammed Ben SulayemToyota Celica CTC
1989 Mohammed Ben SulayemToyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1990 Mohammed Ben SulayemToyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1991 Mohammed Ben SulayemToyota Celica GT-Four ST165
1992 Mamdouh KhayatLancia Delta HF Integrale
1993 Hamed Al-ThaniMitsubishi Galant VR4
1994 Mohammed Ben SulayemFord Escort RS Cosworth
1995 Abdullah BakhashabFord Escort RS Cosworth
1996 Mohammed Ben SulayemFord Escort RS Cosworth
1997 Mohammed Ben SulayemFord Escort RS Cosworth
1998 Mohammed Ben SulayemFord Escort WRC
1999 Mohammed Ben SulayemFord Focus RS WRC
2000 Mohammed Ben SulayemFord Focus RS WRC
2001 Mohammed Ben SulayemFord Focus RS WRC
2002 Mohammed Ben Sulayem (14)Ford Focus RS WRC
Subaru Impreza WRC
2003 Nasser Al-AttiyahSubaru Impreza WRC
2004 Khalid Al QassimiSubaru Impreza WRX STI
2005 Nasser Al-AttiyahSubaru Impreza WRX STI
2006 Nasser Al-AttiyahSubaru Impreza WRX STI
2007 Nasser Al-AttiyahSubaru Impreza WRX STI
2008 Nasser Al-AttiyahSubaru Impreza WRX STI
2009 Nasser Al-AttiyahSubaru Impreza WRX STI
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
2010 Misfer Al MarriSubaru Impreza WRX STI
2011 Nasser Al-AttiyahFord Fiesta S2000
2012 Nasser Al-AttiyahFord Fiesta RRC
Peugeot 207 S2000
2013 Nasser Al-AttiyahFord Fiesta RRC
2014 Nasser Al-AttiyahFord Fiesta RRC
2015Ford Fiesta RRC
2016Škoda Fabia R5
2017Ford Fiesta R5
2018Ford Fiesta R5
2019 Nasser Al-AttiyahVolkswagen Polo GTI R5
2020 Nasser Al-AttiyahVolkswagen Polo GTI R5
2021 Nasser Al-AttiyahVolkswagen Polo GTI R5
2022 Nasser Al-Attiyah (18)Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2023 Nasser Al-Attiyah (19)
Abdullah Al-Rawahi
Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo
Footnotes

Rally winners

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

DriverWins
Nasser Al-Attiyah81
Mohammed Ben Sulayem60
Roger Feghali16
Saeed Al-Hajri11
Khalid Al Qassimi8
Andreas Tsouloftas4
Abdullah Al-Rawahi
Abdullah Bakhashab3
Björn Waldegård
Jean-Pierre Nasrallah
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Suhail bin Maktoum2
Khalifa Al-Mutaiwi
Michel Saleh
Abdulaziz Al Kuwari
Charalambous Thimotheou
Khalid Al Suwaidi
Amjad Farrah1
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

Count as after Cyprus 2023

DriverWins
Qatar100
United Arab Emirates74
Lebanon27
Cyprus9
Saudi Arabia6
Oman5
Sweden3
Italy2
Jordan1
France
United Kingdom
Czech Republic

External links