2019 Middle East Rally Championship

The 2019 Middle East Rally Championship was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was to be contested over five events held in five Middle East countries from March to November. One event, the Cyprus Rally, is shared with the 2019 European Rally Championship. The season-ending Kuwait International Rally was cancelled.

Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah won his fifteenth MERC championship and his ninth consecutively. Al-Attiyah won all four rallies contested. Fellow Qatari driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari was second in the championship but scored less than half the points Al-Attiyah scored. Al-Kuwari was second in Qatar and Jordan but would score only four points for the rest of the season. Kuwaiti driver Meshari Al-Thefiri was again third in the championship.

Event calendar and results

The 2019 MERC was as follows:[1]

Round Rally name Podium finishers Statistics
Rank Driver Car Time Stages Length Starters Finishers
1 Qatar Manateq Qatar International Rally
(14–16 March)[2]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 1:56:18.8 11 203.72 km 22 14
2 Qatar Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Škoda Fabia R5 1:59:48.4
3 Qatar Hamed Al-Thani Ford Fiesta R5 2:07:22.4
2 Jordan Jordan Rally
(25–27 April)[3]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 3:00:48.5 21 244.09 km 22 11
2 Qatar Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Škoda Fabia R5 3:04:56.7
3 Jordan Marouf Abu Samra Ford Fiesta R5 3:08:27.6
3 Lebanon Rally of Lebanon
(30 August–1 September)[4]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 2:06:19.3 11 215.94 km 24 15
2 Lebanon Rodrigue Rahi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2:13:28.6
3 Lebanon Patrick Njeim Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2:14:55.6
4 Cyprus Cyprus Rally
(27–29 September)[5]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 3:02:51.3 12 199.76 km 53 34
2 United Kingdom Chris Ingram Škoda Fabia R5 3:06:42.2
3 Finland Mikko Hirvonen Ford Fiesta R5 3:07:25.3
5 Kuwait Kuwait International Rally
(31 October–2 November)		 Cancelled

Championship standings

The 2019 MERC for Drivers points was as follows:[6]

Pos. Driver Vehicle Qatar
QAT		 Jordan
JOR		 Lebanon
LBN		 Cyprus
CYP		 Total
1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 1 1 1 1 155
2 Qatar Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Škoda Fabia R5 2 2 8 65
3 Kuwait Meshari Al-Thefiri Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 6 4 6 44
4 Lebanon Rodrigue Rahi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2 30
5 United Kingdom Chris Ingram Škoda Fabia R5 2 27
6 Jordan Marouf Abu Samra Ford Fiesta R5 3 25
Lebanon Patrick Njeim Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3 25
8 Qatar Hamed Al-Thani Ford Fiesta R5 3 24
9 Finland Mikko Hirvonen Ford Fiesta R5 3 21
10 Lebanon Henry Massaad Citroën DS3 R3T 4 20
11 Qatar Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta R5 4 Ret Ret 19
12 Poland Łukasz Habaj Škoda Fabia R5 4 18
13 Qatar Khalid Mohammad Al-Suwaidi Ford Fiesta R5 5 16
Austria Niki Mayr-Melnhof Ford Fiesta R2 5 16
15 Lebanon Tarek Younis Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 15
16 Lebanon Henry Kahy Škoda Fabia R2 12 6 10 13
17 Jordan Khaled Juma Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 6 12
18 Germany Albert von Thurn und Taxis Škoda Fabia R2 evo 6 11
19 Jordan Shadi Shabaan Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 7 8
20 Italy Stefano Marrini Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 7 7
Lebanon Albert Hayek Renault Clio R3 7 7
Chile Emilio Fernández Škoda Fabia R2 evo 7 7
23 Qatar Rashid Al-Mohannadi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 8 4
Lebanon Ahmad Khaled Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Ret 11 Ret 4
Lebanon Nassib Nassar Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 8 4
26 Qatar Abdullah Al-Kuwari Subaru WRX STI 9 3
Saudi Arabia Saeed Al-Mouri Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Ret Ret 3
Lebanon Raafat Al-Mohtar Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 12 3
29 Oman Zakariya Ahmed Al-Aufi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Ret 2
Lebanon Alex Feghali Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII
Peugeot 208 R2		 Ret 11 2
Hungary Norbert Herczig Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 9 2
32 Oman Abdullah Al-Rawahi Subaru Impreza STi N14
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX		 11 Ret Ret 1
Brazil Paulo Nobre Škoda Fabia R5 10 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. "Events Calendar Season 2019". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  2. "44. Manateq Qatar International Rally 2019". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 18 March 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  3. "Jordan Rally 2019". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 28 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  4. "42. Rally of Lebanon 2019". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 1 September 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  5. "48. Cyprus Rally 2019". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. "Classifications: FIA Middle East Rally Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
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