2013 Middle East Rally Championship

The 2013 Middle East Rally Championship season is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship is contested over seven events held in seven different countries across the Middle East region, running from January to December.

Reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah successfully retained the championship with an event in hand after taking victories in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and Cyprus and finishing second in Lebanon. He would go on to win Dubai as well. Al-Attiyah scored more than double the points of second placed driver, Khalid Al-Qassimi. Al-Qassimi finished second in Qatar, Kuwait and Cyprus and finished third in Jordan. Third place went to Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari who finished third in Qatar, Kuwait and Cyprus as well as a fourth place in Jordan.

The only driver to defeat Al-Attiyah in a rally this year, Roger Feghali who won in Lebanon, is not a championship competitor.

Race calendar and results

The 2013 MERC is as follows:^[1]

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
		Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	Qatar International Rally (25–26 January)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:16:47.2	12	264.38 km	18	14
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:17:42.9
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:21:02.2
2	Kuwait International Rally (21–23 March)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:10:25.3	12	242.26 km	25	16
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:11:39.2
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:14:50.1
3	Jordan Rally (9–11 May)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:51:53.1	16	256.40 km	26	18
		2	Roger Feghali	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:53:35.3
		3	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:53:53.7
4	Rally of Lebanon (6–8 September)	1	Roger Feghali	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:33:27.6	13	256.77 km	36	22
		2	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:33:57.7
		3	Abdo Feghali	Mini Cooper S2000	2:39:32.6
-	Syrian International Rally (3–5 October)	event cancelled
5	Cyprus Rally (11–13 October)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:35:17.6	17	242.18 km	28	13
		2	Khalid Al-Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:38:09.4
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:38:14.1
6	Dubai International Rally (28–30 November)	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:01:11.9	12	264.20 km	20	13
		2	Misfer Al-Marri	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:06:45.5
		3	Abdullah Al-Qassimi	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:07:40.3

Championship standings

The 2013 MERC for Drivers points is as follows:^[2]

Position Driver Vehicle QAT KUW JOR LBN CYP DUB Total 1 Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC 1 1 1 2 1 1 143 2 Khalid Al-Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 2 2 3 2 Ret 69 3 Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC 3 3 4 3 57 4 Abdullah Al-Qassimi Ford Fiesta RRC 5 5 5 3 30 5 Yazeed Al-Rajhi Ford Fiesta RRC 6 4 Ret Ret 20 6 Ala'a Rasheed Ford Fiesta RRC Ret Ret 12 7 4 18 7 Abdullah Al-Kuwari Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 7 Ret Ret 16 8 8 14 8 Bader Al-Jabri Subaru Impreza WRX STi 8 Ret 10 7 11 9 Zaid Dahshan Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Ret 10 8 17 Ret 4 Meshari Al-Thefiri Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 11 8 13 Ret Ret 4 11 Mohamed Al-Sahlawi Citroën DS3 R3T 10 12 18 9 3 12 Mohamed Al-Mutawaa Citroën DS3 R3T Ret 13 17 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