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 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	Manateq Qatar International Rally (14–16 March)[2]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	1:56:18.8	11	203.72 km	22	14
		2	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Škoda Fabia R5	1:59:48.4
		3		Ford Fiesta R5	2:07:22.4
2	Jordan Rally (25–27 April)[3]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	3:00:48.5	21	244.09 km	22	11
		2	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Škoda Fabia R5	3:04:56.7
		3		Ford Fiesta R5	3:08:27.6
3	Rally of Lebanon (30 August–1 September)[4]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	2:06:19.3	11	215.94 km	24	15
		2		Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	2:13:28.6
		3		Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	2:14:55.6
4	Cyprus Rally (27–29 September)[5]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	3:02:51.3	12	199.76 km	53	34
		2	Chris Ingram	Škoda Fabia R5	3:06:42.2
		3	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Fiesta R5	3:07:25.3
5	Kuwait International Rally (31 October–2 November)	Cancelled

Championship standings[]

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

Pos. Driver Vehicle QAT JOR LBN CYP Total 1 Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 1 1 1 1 155 2 Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Škoda Fabia R5 2 2 8 65 3 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 6 4 6 44 4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2 30 5 Chris Ingram Škoda Fabia R5 2 27 6 Ford Fiesta R5 3 25 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3 25 8 Ford Fiesta R5 3 24 9 Mikko Hirvonen Ford Fiesta R5 3 21 10 Citroën DS3 R3T 4 20 11 Ford Fiesta R5 4 Ret Ret 19 12 Škoda Fabia R5 4 18 13 Ford Fiesta R5 5 16 Ford Fiesta R2 5 16 15 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5 15 16 Škoda Fabia R2 12 6 10 13 17 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 6 12 18 Albert von Thurn und Taxis Škoda Fabia R2 evo 6 11 19 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 7 8 20 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 7 7 Renault Clio R3 7 7 Škoda Fabia R2 evo 7 7 23 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 8 4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Ret 11 Ret 4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 8 4 26 Subaru WRX STI 9 3 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Ret Ret 3 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 12 3 29 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Ret 2 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Peugeot 208 R2 Ret 11 2 Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 9 2 32 Subaru Impreza STi N14 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 11 Ret Ret 1 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[]

External links[]

• Official website