2018 Middle East Rally Championship

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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.

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

References

External links

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