Event calendar and results
The 2018 MERC was as follows: [1]
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.
The 2018 MERC was as follows: [1]
The 2018 MERC for Drivers points was as follows: [7]
The Cyprus Rally is a rallying competition held yearly in Cyprus since 1970. The event is run by the Cyprus Automobile Association and is based in the city of Limassol (Lemesos). It is run on the winding roads of the nearby mountains of Troödos. It was part of the FIA's World Rally Championship (WRC) from 2000 to 2006. In 2007 and 2008 the event was part of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC). The Cyprus Rally rejoined the WRC in 2009, taking advantage of the new regulations to become the only mixed surface event.
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.
Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah is a Qatari rally driver and sport shooter. He was the 2006 Production World Rally Champion, 2014 and 2015 WRC-2 champion, a 16 time Middle East Rally Champion, five times winner of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, and a five times Dakar Rally winner. His five victories in the Dakar Rally make him the only Middle Easterner and West Asian to win the competition more than once.
The 2010 World Rally Championship was the 38th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with Rally Sweden on 11 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 14 November.
Roger Feghali
The 2012 World Rally Championship was the 40th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of thirteen rallies, beginning with Monte Carlo Rally on 17 January, and ending on 11 November with Rally Catalunya.
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.
Saeed Al-Hajri, called The King of Dunes is a Qatari rally driver.
The 2014 Middle East Rally Championship season was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested over six events held in six countries across the Middle East region, running from February to November.
The 2015 Middle East Rally Championship was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested over eight events held in eight countries across the Middle East region, running from February to November. The championship was significantly expanded for the 2015 season. The Oman International Rally returned to the calendar after a seven-year absence, while Iran joined the championship for the first time with the Shiraz Rally debuting in May, the last rally before the mid-year winter break.
The Shiraz Rally is an international rally racing event held at Persepolis, near Shiraz, the capital of the Fars Province in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The rally is a gravel and sand event run by the Motorcycle and Automobile Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (MAFIRI). The event was first held as a candidate event in 2014 before becoming a round of the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) in 2015. The rally is the first international motorsport event to be held in Iran since the 1979 revolution.
The Oman International Rally (known originally as the Rally Oman, is an international rally racing event held to the south and south-east of the Omani capital of Muscat. The rally is run by the Oman Automobile Association.
The 2016 FIA World Rally Championship-2 was the fourth season of the World Rally Championship-2, an auto racing championship recognized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, ran in support of the World Rally Championship. It was created when the Group R class of rally car was introduced in 2013. The Championship was open to cars complying with R4, R5, and Super 2000 regulations. The Championship was composed of thirteen rallies, and drivers and teams had to nominate a maximum of seven events. The best six results counted towards the championship.
The Automobile & Touring Club of the United Arab Emirates (ATCUAE), is the sole Touring and Sporting representative of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in the UAE.
The 2016 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 February to October. The championship was reduced to seven rallies for 2016 season, but the end of season rallies, Oman International Rally and Dubai International Rally were cancelled.
The 2017 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 February to September.
The 2019 FIA World Rally Championship-2 was the seventh season of the World Rally Championship-2, an auto racing championship for rally cars that is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was created when the Group R class of rally car was introduced in 2013 and runs in support of the World Rally Championship. The championship is open to cars complying with R5 regulations.
The 2018 Codasur South American Rally Championship is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA and run by the Confederacion Deportiva Automovilismo Sudamericana (Codasur). The championship was contested over five events held in five different countries across South America, running from March to November.
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.
The 2019 Codasur South American Rally Championship is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA and run by the Confederacion Deportiva Automovilismo Sudamericana (Codasur). The championship was contested over five events held in five South American countries from March to November.
