2014 Middle East Rally Championship

2014 Middle East Rally season
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The 2014 Middle East Rally Championship season was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested over six events held in six different countries across the Middle East region, running from February to November.

Reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah defended his championship, winning four of the six rallies to be held, but the title was not decided until several days after the event. Al-Attiyah's fourth victory – at the Dubai International Rally – had originally been the first of the season for Khalid Al-Qassimi; Al-Qassimi had won the event by 0.3 seconds, and the championship title by a single point.[1] Al-Attiyah protested the results, claiming that Al-Qassimi had violated designated driving regulations. Event officials rejected Al-Attiyah's protest, but the FIA's International Court of Appeal accepted a subsequent protest.[2] Al-Qassimi was given a 30-second post-event penalty,[3] and his one-point title-winning margin, became a deficit of thirteen to Al-Attiyah. Third place in the championship went to Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, who won the Cyprus Rally, which was held alongside the European Rally Championship event. The season's only other winner was Nicolas Amiouni, who won his home event in Lebanon.

Event calendar and results

The 2014 MERC was as follows:[4]

Round Rally name Podium finishers Statistics
Rank Driver Car Time Stages Length Starters Finishers
1 Qatar Qatar International Rally
(20–22 February)[5]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC 2:13:11.4 12 264.51 km 19 14
2 Qatar Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC 2:13:41.5
3 United Arab Emirates Khalid Al-Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 2:16:04.6
2 Kuwait Kuwait International Rally
(20–22 March)[6]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC 2:09:38.4 13 222.20 km 22 16
2 United Arab Emirates Khalid Al-Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 2:10:05.9
3 Saudi Arabia Yazeed Al-Rajhi Ford Fiesta RRC 2:11:50.7
3 Jordan Jordan Rally
(1–3 May)[7]		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC 3:00:53.2 21 273.00 km 25 19
2 United Arab Emirates Khalid Al-Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 3:02:55.4
3 United Arab Emirates Abdullah Al-Qassimi Ford Fiesta RRC 3:15:26.7
4 Lebanon Rally of Lebanon
(29–31 August)[8]		 1 Lebanon Nicolas Amiouni Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 2:39:47.5 13 245.66 km 30 21
2 Lebanon Rodrigue Rahi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2:41:15.9
3 Qatar Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC 2:43:03.0
5 Cyprus Cyprus Rally
(19–21 September)		 1 Qatar Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC 3:05:14.9 15 232.02 km 8 7
2 United Arab Emirates Khalid Al-Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 3:05:50.1
3 Qatar Abdullah Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta R5 3:30:26.9
6 United Arab Emirates Dubai International Rally
(27–29 November)		 1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC 1:59:27.8 12 251.00 km 18 16
2 United Arab Emirates Khalid Al-Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 1:59:57.5
3 Qatar Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC 2:03:51.5

Championship standings

The 2014 MERC for Drivers points was as follows:[9]

Pos. Driver Vehicle Qatar
QAT		 Kuwait
KUW		 Jordan
JOR		 Lebanon
LBN		 Cyprus
CYP		 United Arab Emirates
DUB		 Total
1 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC 1 1 1 Ret 1 100
2 United Arab Emirates Khalid Al-Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 3 2 2 2 2 87
3 Qatar Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC 2 6 3 1 3 81
4 Qatar Abdullah Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta R5 5 7 Ret 6 3 6 47
5 United Arab Emirates Abdullah Al-Qassimi Ford Fiesta RRC 4 3 5 37
6 Saudi Arabia Yazeed Al-Rajhi Ford Fiesta RRC 4 3 27
7 Lebanon Nicolas Amiouni Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1 25
8 Kuwait Salah Bin Eidan Ford Fiesta R5 Ret 5 5 20
Qatar Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX		 8 5 7 20
10 Lebanon Rodrigue Rahi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2 18
11 Kuwait Meshari Al-Thefiri Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 9 12 10 4 15
12 United Arab Emirates Mohamed Al-Mutawaa Citroën DS3 R3T 6 9 9 9 14
13 Jordan Marouf Abu Samra Škoda Fabia S2000 4 12
Lebanon Nabil Abdelhak Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 4 12
Qatar Khalid Al-Suwaidi Ford Fiesta RRC 4 12
16 United Arab Emirates Mohamed Al-Sahlawi Citroën DS3 R3T 7 10 17 8 11
17 Lebanon Bassel Abou-Hamdan Citroën DS3 R3T 5 10
Jordan Ala'a Rasheed Ford Fiesta RRC 8 7 10
19 Germany Edith Weiss Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 6 15 8
Jordan Husam Salem Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 6 8
21 Lebanon Nehme Elie Renault Clio R3 7 6
Qatar Nada Zaidan Subaru Impreza STi N12 7 6
23 Jordan Ala Khalifeh Ford Fiesta R5 8 4
Lebanon "Matador" Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 8 4
25 Lebanon Eddy Abou-Karam Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 9 2
26 United Arab Emirates Mansoor Yahya Bel Helei Citroën DS3 R3T 10 13 15 13 1
Lebanon Bechara Bechir Renault Clio RS 10 1
United Arab Emirates Rashid Al-Ketbi Ford Fiesta R5 10 1
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (DNF)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

References

  1. ↑ "Sheikh Khalid wins Dubai International Rally and captures Merc title". The National. Abu Dhabi Media. 29 November 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "International Court of Appeal: Decision hearing 4 December". Racer. Haymarket Publications. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi expresses disappointment at FIA ruling which saw him lose his Merc title". The National. Abu Dhabi Media. 6 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "Events 2014". FIA Middle East Rally Championship. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ "Classifications: FIA Middle East Rally Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2014-04-04.

External links

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