# Middle East Rally Championship

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

| Year | Driver | Car |
| 1984 | Saeed Al-Hajri | Porsche 911 SC RS |
| 1985 | Saeed Al-Hajri (2) | Porsche 911 SC RS |
| 1986 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo |
| 1987 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo |
| 1988 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo |
| 1989 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 |
| 1990 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 |
| 1991 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 |
| 1992 | Mamdouh Khayat | Lancia Delta HF Integrale |
| 1993 | Hamed Al-Thani | Mitsubishi Galant VR4 |
| 1994 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Ford Escort RS Cosworth |
| 1995 | Abdullah Bakhashab | Ford Escort RS Cosworth |
| 1996 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Ford Escort RS Cosworth |
| 1997 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Ford Escort RS Cosworth |
| 1998 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Ford Escort WRC |
| 1999 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Ford Focus RS WRC |
| 2000 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Ford Focus RS WRC |
| 2001 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem | Ford Focus RS WRC |
| 2002 | Mohammed Ben Sulayem (14) | Ford Focus RS WRC Subaru Impreza WRC |
| 2003 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Subaru Impreza WRC |
| 2004 | Khalid Al Qassimi | Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
| 2005 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
| 2006 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
| 2007 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
| 2008 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
| 2009 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Subaru Impreza WRX STI Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X |
| 2010 | Misfer Al Marri | Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
| 2011 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford Fiesta S2000 |
| 2012 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford Fiesta RRC Peugeot 207 S2000 |
| 2013 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford Fiesta RRC |
| 2014 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford Fiesta RRC |
| 2015 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford Fiesta RRC |
| 2016 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Škoda Fabia R5 |
| 2017 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford Fiesta R5 |
| 2018 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford Fiesta R5 |
| 2019 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| 2020 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| 2021 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Volkswagen 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 |
| 2024 | Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari | Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 |

### 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.

## 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 | 4 |
| Abdullah Bakhashab | 3 |
| Björn Waldegård | 3 |
| Jean-Pierre Nasrallah | 3 |
| Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 3 |
| Suhail bin Maktoum | 2 |
| Khalifa Al-Mutaiwi | 2 |
| Michel Saleh | 2 |
| Abdulaziz Al Kuwari | 2 |
| Charalambos Thimotheou | 2 |
| Khalid Al Suwaidi | 2 |
| Amjad Farrah | 1 |
| Andreas Peratikos | 1 |
| Chris Thomas | 1 |
| Samir Ghanem | 1 |
| Abdullah Al-Qassimi | 1 |
| Abbas Al-Motaiwi | 1 |
| Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah | 1 |
| Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani | 1 |
| Maurice Sehnaoui | 1 |
| Tony Georgiou | 1 |
| Alex Fiorio | 1 |
| Piero Liatti | 1 |
| Russell Brookes | 1 |
| Alain Oreille | 1 |
| Nizar Shanfari | 1 |
| Nicos Thomas | 1 |
| Rashed El-Ketbi | 1 |
| Nicolas Amiouni | 1 |
| Tamer Ghandour | 1 |
| Rodolphe Asmar | 1 |
| Rashid El-Naimi | 1 |
| Vojtěch Štajf | 1 |

## 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 | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 1 |