2015 Middle East Rally Championship

2015 Middle East Rally Championship
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The 2015 Middle East Rally Championship was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested over eight events held in eight different countries across the Middle East region, running from February to November. The championship was significantly expanded for 2015 season. The Oman International Rally returned to the calendar after a seven-year absence, while Iran joined the championship for the first time with the Shiraz Rally debuting in May, the last rally before the mid-year winter break.

For the fifth season in a row, Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah won the championship title. Al-Attiyah won six of the seven rallies he contested – the only failure being a retirement in Lebanon – en route to his eleventh MERC title overall.^[1] With his victory in Oman, Al-Attiyah also tied Mohammed bin Sulayem for most rally wins in the MERC, with 60. Al-Attiyah finished 48 points of his nearest challenger, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, who finished five rallies in second place during the 2015 season. Third place in the championship went to Khalid Al Qassimi, who won the rally that Al-Attiyah did not contest, the Dubai International Rally. Roger Feghali won the season's other event in Lebanon, but did not compete in enough events to be eligible for the championship standings.

Event calendar and results

The 2015 MERC was as follows:^[2]

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
		Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	Qatar International Rally (5–7 February)[3]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:12:10.1	12	263.27 km	12	8
		2	Khalid Al Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:18:03.3
		3	Khalifa Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:27:00.0
2	Kuwait International Rally (12–14 March)[4]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:33:36.1	13	250.46 km	19	13
		2	Khalid Al Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:34:38.1
		3	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:36:05.8
3	Shiraz Rally (6–8 May)[5]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	1:52:56.2	14	247.84 km	22	7
		2	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	1:53:23.2
		3	Khalid Al Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	1:54:23.9
4	Rally of Lebanon (4–6 September)[6]	1	Roger Feghali	Ford Fiesta R5	2:28:13.3	13	244.03 km	33	15
		2	Nicolas Amiouni	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	2:34:22.3
		3	Tamer Ghandour	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	2:34:38.2
5	Cyprus Rally (25–27 September)[7]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:08:38.4	16	204.50 km	63	40
		2	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	Ford Fiesta R5	2:08:45.4
		3	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:12:38.4
6	Jordan Rally (15–17 October)[8]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	3:07:51.2	21	257.60 km	13	10
		2	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	3:37:22.2
		3	Salem Husam	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	3:41:37.6
7	Oman International Rally (5–7 November)[9]	1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:28:00.5	13	250.82 km	19	10
		2	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:28:49.0
		3	Khalid Al Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	2:29:24.6
8	Dubai International Rally (19–21 November)[10]	1	Khalid Al Qassimi	Citroën DS3 RRC	1:58:41.5	12	254.92 km	14	14
		2	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Ford Fiesta RRC	1:59:38.5
		3	Khalid Al-Suwaidi	Ford Fiesta RRC	2:03:19.1

Championship standings

The 2015 MERC for Drivers points was as follows:^[11] Only drivers that had contested at least five events during the season were eligible for the championship standings.

Pos. Driver Vehicle QAT KUW SHR LBN CYP JOR OMA DUB Total 1 Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta RRC Škoda Fabia R5 1 1 1 Ret 1 1 1 150 2 Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC Ret 4 2 2 2 2 2 102 3 Khalid Al Qassimi Citroën DS3 RRC 2 2 3 3 1 91 4 Khalid Al-Suwaidi Ford Fiesta RRC 5 5 4 Ret Ret Ret 4 3 59 5 Salah Bin Eidan Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4 7 6 Ret 5 36 6 Rashed Al Naimi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Ret 11 7 Ret 5 Ret 8 20

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. "Al-Attiyah seals 11th FIA MERC title with 9th victory in Jordan". Arab News. Saudi Research and Publishing Company. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
2. "Events calendar". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
3. "Qatar International Rally 2015". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
4. "Kuwait International Rally 2015". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
5. "Shiraz Rally 2015". Cronobandeira. Cronobandeira Lda. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
6. "38. Rally of Lebanon 2015". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
7. "44. CNP Asfalistiki Cyprus Rally 2015". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
8. "Jordan Rally 2015". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
9. "23. Oman International Rally 2015". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 9 November 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
10. "Dubai International Rally 2015". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 21 November 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
11. "Classifications: FIA Middle East Rally Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 7 December 2015.

External links

• Official website