Middle East Rally Championship
| Category | R5 Rally2 Group N |
|---|---|
| Region | Middle East |
| Inaugural season | 1984 |
| Drivers' champion | Nasser Al-Attiyah Abdullah Al-Rawahi |
| Current season | |
The Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) is a motor rally championship run under the auspicies of the FIA.
History
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
- Footnotes
- ^ 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 |
|---|---|
| Nasser Al-Attiyah | 81 |
| Mohammed Ben Sulayem | 60 |
| Roger Feghali | 16 |
| Saeed Al-Hajri | 11 |
| Khalid Al Qassimi | 8 |
| Andreas Tsouloftas | 4 |
| Abdullah Al-Rawahi | |
| Abdullah Bakhashab | 3 |
| Björn Waldegård | |
| Jean-Pierre Nasrallah | |
| Yazeed Al-Rajhi | |
| Suhail bin Maktoum | 2 |
| Khalifa Al-Mutaiwi | |
| Michel Saleh | |
| Abdulaziz Al Kuwari | |
| Charalambos Thimotheou | |
| Khalid Al Suwaidi | |
| Amjad Farrah | 1 |
| 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
| 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
- ^ "The rally title decided by a committee meeting". 23 Nov 2023.