MERC – Qatar’s Al-Kuwari battle it out for the first title as the series battles it out in Cyprus.

2024 FIA Middle East Rally Championship – Cyprus Rally (October 18-24, Round 3/3)

Due to the unstable situation in parts of the Middle East, this year’s Rally Lebanon was not a round of the FIA ​​Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) and the Oman Automobile Association recently canceled the final round of the series. Sultanate of Oman in late November.

That means the Cyprus Rally will conclude this year’s shortened three-round series in a thrilling conclusion from October 18-20 and see its first champion crowned.

Twenty-one drivers headline the entry list for the Nicosia-based event, six of whom are registered for MERC points and three targeting the overall drivers’ championship. Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari is currently 12 points ahead of Jordan’s Sheikh Juihan in the standings and 14 points ahead of Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah.

Al-Kuwari’s fourth-place finish in the general classification and power stage would be enough for Qatar to win the title for the first time, but a mistake could cost Al-Attiyah his 20th title. If he wins the rally and power stage. Should disaster strike one of the Škoda drivers, we could see Jweihan add the MERC title to his MERC2 championship. He now has an unassailable lead.

A little piece of rally history was created at last year’s Cyprus event when Al-Attiyah and title rival Abdullah Al-Rawahi were tied at the end of the season and could not be split by a tie-break ruling from the FIA ​​regional sporting regulations. Rally Championship. A special committee was formed and it was decided to share the title between the two drivers, with Al-Attiyah winning his record 19th regional title and Al-Rawahi his first.

After the Oman race was canceled in November, Al-Rawahi withdrew from the Cyprus Rally. Al-Rawahi, well aware that he had a mathematically slim chance of regaining the title after finishing third in Qatar and then retiring in Jordan, withdrew from the Cyprus Rally. .

While Al-Kuwari and Rashid Al-Muhannadi will drive a pair of SRT-powered Škodas, eight-time event winner Al-Attiyah will take out his usual Autotek Motorsport-run machine, which he used for the first time in Jordan in May. Panayiotis Yiangou and Aristos Nicolaou are also registered for MERC points in their Hyundai i20 R5 and a podium finish for the Cypriot could have a big impact on the MERC result.

Jordan’s Shaker Jweihan chases MERC and MERC2 doubles

Jweihan leads the MERC2 category by 12 points over Shadi Shaban, but none of his rivals have visited Cyprus and the series was secured before the engines started in anger.
Lebanon’s Carlos Hanna was in attendance as co-driver alongside Jweihan and the finish saw him overhaul the absent Samer Issa to win the MERC2 co-driver championship.

The Lebanese combination of Shadi El-Fakih and Samer Sfeir are also chasing MERC4 points in their Peugeot 208. They are tied on 30 points with the absent Saneem Payyakal and Musa Sherif and a finish could give the duo both MERC4 titles.

Veteran Italian co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini will sit alongside Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah as they look to defend their slim lead in the MERC Co-Drivers Championship.

His closest rivals Loris Pascaud, Patrik Barth and Marshall Clarke are not in Cyprus, but co-defending co-drivers’ champion Ata Al-Hmoud is competing with Al-Muhannadi. The Jordanian is sixth in the championship, 10 points behind Bernacchini and still unlikely to win a second title.

The rest of the field consists of local drivers chasing points in the Cyprus National Championship. These include Simos Galatariotis in the Petrolina Racing Team Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 and Costas Zenonos in the Citroën DS3 R5, with the rest of the field entered in Rally3, Rally4 and Group NR4 machines.

Organized by the Cyprus Automobile Association, the competition will face 12 special stages and 191.20 competitive kilometers on Saturday and Sunday, mainly on cobblestones. The event will be held at the POED building opposite Nicosia Service Park.

Cyprus Rally 2024 – Participation List:

Event Timetable