2014 Middle East Rally Championship

The 2014 Middle East Rally Championship season was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested over six events held in six countries across the Middle East region, running from February to November.

Reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah defended his championship, winning four of the six rallies to be held, but the title was not decided until several days after the event. Al-Attiyah's fourth victory – at the Dubai International Rally – had originally been the first of the season for Khalid Al-Qassimi; Al-Qassimi had won the event by 0.3 seconds, and the championship title by a single point.^[1] Al-Attiyah protested the results, claiming that Al-Qassimi had violated designated driving regulations. Event officials rejected Al-Attiyah's protest, but the FIA's International Court of Appeal accepted a subsequent protest.^[2] Al-Qassimi was given a 30-second post-event penalty,^[3] and his one-point title-winning margin, became a deficit of thirteen to Al-Attiyah. Third place in the championship went to Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, who won the Cyprus Rally, which was held alongside the European Rally Championship event. The season's only other winner was Nicolas Amiouni, who won his home event in Lebanon.

Event calendar and results[]

The 2014 MERC was as follows:^[4]

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
		Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	Qatar International Rally (20–22 February)[5]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:13:11.4	12	264.51 km	19	14
		2	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:13:41.5
		3	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:16:04.6
2	Kuwait International Rally (20–22 March)[6]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:09:38.4	13	222.20 km	22	16
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:10:05.9
		3	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:11:50.7
3	Jordan Rally (1–3 May)[7]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	3:00:53.2	21	273.00 km	25	19
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	3:02:55.4
		3		Ford Fiesta RRC	3:15:26.7
4	Rally of Lebanon (29–31 August)[8]	1	Nicolas Amiouni	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	2:39:47.5	13	245.66 km	30	21
		2		Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	2:41:15.9
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:43:03.0
5	Cyprus Rally (19–21 September)	1	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	3:05:14.9	15	232.02 km	8	7
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	3:05:50.1
		3		Ford Fiesta R5	3:30:26.9
6	Dubai International Rally (27–29 November)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	1:59:27.8	12	251.00 km	18	16
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	1:59:57.5
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:03:51.5

Championship standings[]

The 2014 MERC for Drivers points was as follows:^[9]

Pos. Driver Vehicle QAT KUW JOR LBN CYP DUB Total 1 Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC 1 1 1 Ret 1 100 2 Khalid Al-Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 3 2 2 2 2 87 3 Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC 2 6 3 1 3 81 4 Ford Fiesta R5 5 7 Ret 6 3 6 47 5 Ford Fiesta RRC 4 3 5 37 6 Yazeed Al-Rajhi Ford Fiesta RRC 4 3 27 7 Nicolas Amiouni Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1 25 8 Ford Fiesta R5 Ret 5 5 20 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 8 5 7 20 10 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2 18 11 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 9 12 10 4 15 12 Citroën DS3 R3T 6 9 9 9 14 13 Škoda Fabia S2000 4 12 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 4 12 Ford Fiesta RRC 4 12 16 Citroën DS3 R3T 7 10 17 8 11 17 Citroën DS3 R3T 5 10 Ford Fiesta RRC 8 7 10 19 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 6 15 8 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 6 8 21 Renault Clio R3 7 6 Subaru Impreza STi N12 7 6 23 Ford Fiesta R5 8 4 "Matador" Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 8 4 25 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 9 2 26 Citroën DS3 R3T 10 13 15 13 1 Renault Clio RS 10 1 Ford Fiesta 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[]

External links[]

• Official website