Middle East Rally Championship

The FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) was inaugurated in 1984 and followed on from the earlier Gulf Rally Championship.

In recent seasons, it has run over six qualifying rounds, although there have been as many as seven or eight counting rounds in the past.

The events adhere to the FIA’s Regional Rally Sporting Regulations and run to a three-day format with the introduction of a new Qualifying Stage trialled in Qatar for the first time in February 2026. A Shakedown stage is also now mandatory for each event.

The result of the Qualifying Stage for Rally2 vehicles determines the starting order for leg one with the slowest car going first. There is also a Power Stage with additional points awarded to the fastest five crews.

Drivers and co-drivers score points towards the FIA Middle East Rally Championship and there are sub-sections for FIA MERC2, FIA MERC3, FIA MERC4 and FIA Junior (under 26 on January 1) and Master (over 50 on January 1) Championships for Drivers.

The best five scores count from the six rounds in Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia. The final round runs in conjunction with the finale to the FIA World Rally Championship.

Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah is the record-breaker currently competing as the defending champion. He headed into the 2026 season with 91 MERC rally wins and 20 regional titles. Current FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem claimed 60 event wins and 14 championship wins.

The closest challenger to their domination of the sport in the Middle East region is Roger Feghali. The Lebanese has won his home event 18 times (16 in the MERC). Saeed Al-Hajri (11) and Khalid Al-Qassimi (8) round off the top five most successful drivers in history.

Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera are the defending champions. Oman’s Abdullah Al-Zubair and Taha Al-Zadjali won the 2025 FIA MERC2 category and Joseph Hindy and Vicken Kanledjian won FIA MERC3.

Qatar’s Rashid Al-Muhannadi and Irishman Gary McEnhinney are the defending FIA MERC4 champions. Junior success in 2025 went to Qatar’s Mohammed Al-Marri and fellow countryman Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya prevailed in the Master MERC Driver Championship.

2026 FIA Middle East Rally Championship Calendar

Oman International Rally January 22-24

Qatar International Rally February 4-7

Jordan Rally May 14-16

Rally of Lebanon September 11-13

Cyprus Rally October 9-11

Rally Saudi Arabia November 12-15