2013 Middle East Rally Championship

Last updated April 18, 2019

2013 Middle East Rally season
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The 2013 Middle East Rally Championship season is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship is contested over seven events held in seven countries across the Middle East region, running from January to December.

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.

Rally is a form of motorsport that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. It is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points, leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages.

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. To the general public, the FIA is mostly known as the governing body for many auto racing events. The FIA also promotes road safety around the world.

Reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah successfully retained the championship with an event in hand after taking victories in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and Cyprus and finishing second in Lebanon. He would go on to win Dubai as well. Al-Attiyah scored more than double the points of second placed driver, Khalid Al-Qassimi. Al-Qassimi finished second in Qatar, Kuwait and Cyprus and finished third in Jordan. Third place went to Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari who finished third in Qatar, Kuwait and Cyprus as well as a fourth place in Jordan.

Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah is a Qatari rally driver, sport shooter and sheik. He was the 2006 Production World Rally Champion, a 13-time Middle East Rally Champion, 2014 and 2015 WRC-2 champion, three times winner of FIA cross-country rally Cup and the 2011, 2015 and 2019 Dakar Rally winner. He currently competes in the World Rally Championship and Middle East Rally Championship for the Qatar World Rally Team. His three victories in the Dakar Rally make him the only Middle Easterner to win the competition more than once.

Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari is a Qatari rally driver. He made his World Rally Championship (WRC) debut on the 2012 Acropolis Rally, scoring a point with a tenth place finish.

The only driver to defeat Al-Attiyah in a rally this year, Roger Feghali who won in Lebanon, is not a championship competitor.

Roger Feghali is a Lebanese rally driver, he is 14 times Lebanese Rally champion and the record holder of wins in Rally of Lebanon.

Race calendar and results

The 2013 MERC is as follows:^[1]

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
Round	Rally name	Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	Qatar International Rally (25–26 January)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:16:47.2	12	264.38 km	18	14
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:17:42.9
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:21:02.2

2	Kuwait International Rally (21–23 March)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:10:25.3	12	242.26 km	25	16
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:11:39.2
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:14:50.1

3	Jordan Rally (9–11 May)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:51:53.1	16	256.40 km	26	18
		2	Roger Feghali	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:53:35.3
		3	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:53:53.7

4	Rally of Lebanon (6–8 September)	1	Roger Feghali	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:33:27.6	13	256.77 km	36	22
		2	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:33:57.7
		3	Abdo Feghali	Mini Cooper S2000	2:39:32.6

-	Syrian International Rally (3–5 October)	event cancelled

5	Cyprus Rally (11–13 October)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:35:17.6	17	242.18 km	28	13
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:38:09.4
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:38:14.1

6	Dubai International Rally (28–30 November)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:01:11.9	12	264.20 km	20	13
		2	Misfer Al-Marri	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:06:45.5
		3	Abdullah Al-Qassimi	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:07:40.3

Championship standings

The 2013 MERC for Drivers points is as follows:^[2]

Position	Driver	Vehicle	QAT	KUW	JOR	LBN	CYP	DUB	Total
1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	1	1	1	2	1	1	143
2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2	2	3		2	Ret	69
3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	3	3	4		3		57
4	Abdullah Al-Qassimi	Ford Fiesta RRC	5	5	5			3	30
5	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Ford Fiesta RRC	6	4			Ret	Ret	20
6	Ala'a Rasheed	Ford Fiesta RRC	Ret	Ret		12	7	4	18
7	Abdullah Al-Kuwari	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	7	Ret	Ret	16	8	8	14
8	Bader Al-Jabri	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	8	Ret	10			7	11
9	Zaid Dahshan	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	Ret	10	8	17	Ret		4
9	Meshari Al-Thefiri	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	11	8	13	Ret	Ret		4
11	Mohamed Al-Sahlawi	Citroën DS3 R3T	10	12	18			9	3
12	Mohamed Al-Mutawaa	Citroën DS3 R3T	Ret	13	17			10	1

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Excluded (EX)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
White	Cancelled (C)
Blank	Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

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References

↑ "Events 2013". FIA Middle East Rally Championship. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
↑ "Classifications: FIA Middle East Rally Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2013-12-04.

External links

Official website

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[1] "Events 2013". FIA Middle East Rally Championship. Retrieved 2013-12-05.

[2] "Classifications: FIA Middle East Rally Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2013-12-04.