2018 Middle East Rally Championship

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.

Event calendar and results

The 2018 MERC was as follows:[1]

Round Rally name Podium finishers Statistics
Rank Driver Car Time Stages Length Starters Finishers
1 Jordan Jordan Rally
(26–28 April)[2]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5 1:56:30.3 14 167.80 km 13 12
2 Czech Republic Vojtěch Štajf Škoda Fabia R5 2:04:33.5
3 Kuwait Meshari Al-Thefiri Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 2:06:50.3
2 Cyprus Cyprus Rally
(15–17 June)[3]		 1 Cyprus Simos Galatariotis Škoda Fabia R5 1:55:40.2 13 180.91 km 59 46
2 Portugal Bruno Magalhães Škoda Fabia R5 1:55:40.8
3 Hungary Norbert Herczig Škoda Fabia R5 1:57:01.6
3 Lebanon Rally of Lebanon
(6–8 July)[4]		 1 Lebanon Roger Feghali Škoda Fabia R5 2:07:43.0 11 222.86 km 27 20
2 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5 2:09:07.4
3 Lebanon Rodolphe Asmar Škoda Fabia R5 2:14:06.3
4 Kuwait Kuwait International Rally
(1–3 November)[5]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5 1:58:24.6 13 198.52 km 13 10
2 Kuwait Meshari Al-Thefiri Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 2:10:43.8
3 Kuwait Jasem Al-Maqahwi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII 2:26:27.7
5 Qatar International Rally of Qatar
(15–17 November)[6]		 1 Czech Republic Vojtěch Štajf Škoda Fabia R5 1:39:46.7 10 153.82 km 16 6
2 Qatar Adel Hussein Ford Fiesta R5 1:43:54.5
3 Qatar Abdullah Al-Kuwari Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 1:52:48.0

Championship standings

The 2018 MERC for Drivers points was as follows:[7]

Pos. Driver Vehicle Jordan
JOR		 Cyprus
CYP		 Lebanon
LBN		 Kuwait
KUW		 Qatar
QAT		 Total
1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5 1 1 2 1 Ret 153
2 Czech Republic Vojtěch Štajf Škoda Fabia R5 2 2 5 4 1 131
3 Kuwait Meshari Al-Thefiri Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3 8 2 Ret 59
4 Lebanon Roger Feghali Škoda Fabia R5 1 38
5 Jordan Khaled Juma Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 4 5 32
Lebanon Henry Kahy Škoda Fabia R2 7 17 9 7 6 32
7 Qatar Adel Hussein Ford Fiesta R5 2 29
8 Cyprus Christos Demosthenous Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3 25
9 Qatar Abdullah Al-Kuwari Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3 24
Lebanon Rodolphe Asmar Škoda Fabia R5 3 24
11 Qatar Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3 19
Cyprus Alexandros Tsouloftas Citroën DS3 R5 4 19
Lebanon Eddy Abou-Karam Hyundai i20 R5 4 19
14 Qatar Mohamed Al-Meer Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 4 17
Jordan Ihab Al-Shorafa Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 6 8 17
16 Jordan Ahmad Shabaan Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 16
17 Cyprus Savvas Savva Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 15
18 Qatar Rashid Al-Mohannadi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 14
19 Cyprus Costas Zenonos Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 6 12
20 Oman Abdullah Al-Rawahi Subaru Impreza STi N14 Ret 15 6 Ret 11
Lebanon Rony Kanaan Citroën DS3 R3T 6 11
22 Cyprus Panayiotis Yiangou Hyundai i20 R5 7 8
23 Lebanon Matthias Njeim Peugeot 208 R2 7 7
24 Cyprus George Englezou Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 8 5
Cyprus Panikos Polykarpou Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 9 5
26 Jordan Asem Aref Renault Clio 8 4
27 Kuwait Salah Bin Eidan Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Ret 3
Lebanon Michel Slaiby Ford Fiesta R5 Ret 3
29 Cyprus Costas Laos Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 11 1
Cyprus Kyriakos Kyriakou Subaru Impreza STi R4 12 1
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry from
the event (WD)

References
  1. "Season 2018 Middle East Rally Championship". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  2. "Jordan Rally 2018". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  3. "47. Cyprus Rally 2018". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  4. "41. Rally of Lebanon 2018". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  5. "Kuwait International Rally 2018". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 4 November 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  6. "43. Manateq - International Rally of Qatar 2018". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  7. "Classifications: FIA Middle East Rally Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
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