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 2009 World Rally Championship was the 37th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of twelve rallies and began on 30 January, with Rally Ireland and ended with Rally GB on 25 October. Sébastien Loeb won the World Drivers' championship at Rally GB by one point from Mikko Hirvonen, taking his sixth consecutive crown. Citroën secured their fifth Manufacturers' title, Martin Prokop won the JWRC Drivers' championship and Armindo Araujo won the PWRC Drivers' championship.
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.
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.
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 2013 World Rally Championship was the 41st season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the highest class of international rallying. The season was run over 13 rallies, starting with the Rallye Monte Carlo on 16 January, and finishing with the Wales Rally of Great Britain on 17 November. Volkswagen entered the series as a constructor with the Polo R WRC, while Ford and Mini ended their factory support for the Fiesta RS WRC and John Cooper Works WRC respectively, though both continued to make their cars available to customer teams.
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 European Rally Championship season was the 62nd season of the FIA European Rally Championship, the European continental championship series in rallying. The season was also the second following the merger between the European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
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 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 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.
The 2019 African Rally Championship was the 39th season of the African Rally Championship (ARC), the FIA regional zone rally championship for the African continent. The season began on February 21 in the Côte d'Ivoire, and ended on October 10 in Rwanda, after seven events.
Manateq Qatar International Rally 
Jordan Rally 
Rally of Lebanon 
Cyprus Rally 
Chris Ingram 
Mikko Hirvonen 
Kuwait International Rally 
