File photo of Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah
Doha: Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah heads an impressive entry for the 26th Kuwait International Rally, round three of the 2022 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), which was announced yesterday.
The three-day event (March 17-19) is being organised by the Kuwait International Motorsport Club (KIMC) in co-operation with the Kuwait International Automobile Club (KIAC).
Al Attiyah teams up with regular French co-driver Mathieu Baumel in an Autotek Volkswagen Polo GTI and will be aiming to extend his MERC series lead and win the Kuwait International Rally for eighth time.
Competitors from eight nations will take part in the first Kuwait Rally to be held since 2018.
But the Qatari faces a fierce challenge from seven Rally2 entrants and a further eight MERC2 teams, who will contest 10 special stages in the southern Kuwaiti deserts.
Fellow Qataris, Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Khaled Al Suwaidi, drive a pair of Škoda Fabias, and 1993 series runner-up Nasser Khalifa Al Atya wheels out his trusty Ford Fiesta.
Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri dominated the MERC2 category at the recent Qatar International Rally, but the defending showroom category champion makes the step up to an RC2 car for his home rally.
He will drive a Škoda Fabia R2 evo for the first time, the Kuwaiti again teaming up with Qatar’s Nasser Al Kuwari. Oman’s Abdullah Al Rawahi currently holds second place in the points’ standings behind Al Attiyah and he wheels out his similar machine with Jordan’s Ata Al Hmoud reading the pace notes.
The Jordanian duo of Ihab Al Shorafa and Issa Abu Jamous are the early pace-setters in this year’s MERC2 category and the duo will lock horns again in Kuwait in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IXs.
Competition comes from Oman’s Zakariya Al Aamri, fellow Jordanian drivers, Shadi Shaban and Khalid Juma, and Kuwait’s Jassim Al Muqahwi, Mohammed Al Thefiri and Yousef Al Dhafeeri.
