Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah is chasing a record-breaking 20th regional title in Saudi Arabia.
Doha, Qatar: The all-new Rally Saudi Arabia marks the kingdom’s return to the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) after a 15-year absence this weekend.
The 12-stage event, which is the third round of this year’s regional rally series, gets underway today with a ceremonial start in Jeddah.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah is chasing a record-breaking 20th regional title since 2003 and the Qatari tops a 28-car entry that includes nine Rally2 cars, six SSVs and 21 crews registered for MERC points. They will tackle six brand new gravel stages that will be repeated twice over the weekend. Sections of them are sure to be used in the inaugural WRC event later in the year.
This year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship is being fought out over six rounds in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and Cyprus. The series began in 1984 and has seen several legendary names crowned as champion over the years, including the current FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem 14 times, Al-Attiyah on 19 occasions, the Saudi duo of Mamdouh Khayat (1992) and Abdullah Bakhashab (1995) and the UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi (1994).
Al-Attiyah arrived in the Red Sea city with a 22-point cushion in the Drivers’ Championship following back-to-back wins with his Autotek Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2 in Oman and Qatar with new Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera. He will be chasing an astonishing 89th MERC event win this weekend and an MERC first in Saudi Arabia.
Rakan Al-Rashed is Al-Attiyah’s closest challenger as the MERC nears its mid-point. The Saudi Toyota driver is joined on an entry list that shows the Finnish pairing of Juho Hanninen and Janni Hussi taking their place alongside the regional regulars in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 entered by the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team.
Hanninen is not registered for MERC points but will be collecting vital data for Toyota in advance of the inaugural WRC event. Al-Rashed will be hoping to trim Al-Attiyah’s points’ lead on his home event.
Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi was the joint 2023 regional champion and teams up with British co-driver Ross Whittock on this occasion, as he aims to close the gap on al-Attiyah in the points’ standings. The pair worked together on two rounds of the FIA Junior World Rally Championship in Sweden and Sardinia last year.
Further Rally2 competition comes from the likes of the defending regional champion Abdulaziz Al Kuwari (Citroen C3), new FIA Master MERC Driver series leader Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (Ford) and Jordan’s Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (Skoda).
Oman’s Zakariya Al-Aamri is the early leader of the MERC2 section and faces competition from fellow countryman Abdullah Al-Zubair and Jordan’s defending champion Shaker Sweihan at the front of a posse of Subarus and Mitsubishis in the NR4 group.
Qatar fields three crews in French-built Peugeot 208 Rally4s with young academy drivers, Mohammed Al-Marri and Saad Al-Harqan, competing against the early MERC4 category front-runner Rashid Al-Muhannadi. Multiple MERC event-winning navigator Giovanni Bernacchini joins Al-Marri as his co-driver.
Today, competitors will be permitted to shakedown their cars on a short, designated stage of 2.77km from 10.31pm. They will then tackle 189.48 competitive kilometres in a total route of 839.29km over two days.
