Qatar International Rally: QMMF announces 29-car field and competitors from 17 nations
LUSAIL (Qatar): The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) has announced a 29-car entry and competitors from 17 countries for the 2025 Qatar International Rally on February 6th-8th.
This year’s 45th event ever to be held will also mark the 50th anniversary of the first Qatar International Rally.
The 1975 rally was won by Great Britain’s Peter Austin and his Qatari co-driver Hameed Abdel Rahman in a Mazda 929 Coupe. That laid the early foundations for the creation of the Gulf series and then the formation of the FISA Middle East Rally Championship in 1984.
The second round of the 2025 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) follows on from last weekend’s season opener in Oman and sees three regional rally champions heading the entry. The full list contains seven Rally 2 cars, one Rally 3, four Rally 4s, a Rally5, a dozen crews competing in the NR4 group and four SSVs in the T4 category. Nineteen teams are registered for the MERC.
The Qatari duo of the early season championship leader Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari top the field. They will be joined by fellow Qatari Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Saudi Arabia’s Rakan Al-Rashed in the Rally 2 machinery that competed last weekend in Oman.
The latter will be partnered by Romanian co-driver Sergiu Itu, the regular co-driver for Simone Tempestini in the FIA European Rally Championship. Itu did compete with Østberg in 2024, however, and finished second in Slovenia’s Rally Nova Gorica.
Rashid Al-Muhannadi overcame late drama to finish fourth in Oman and he heads the four-car Rally 4 field in a Peugeot 208. Mohammed Al-Marri and Saad Al-Harqan are entered in a pair of similar cars and Indian driver Payyakkal Saneem Panikkaveettil will be hoping for better luck in his Ford Fiesta after a late retirement from round one.
Last year’s MERC2 champion Shaker Jweihan is the sole entrant in a Ford Fiesta in the Rally 3 group and Shadi El-Fakih continues the defence of his MERC4 title in a Renault Clio. The Lebanese finished ninth overall last weekend.
Oman’s Abdullah Al-Zubair secured victory in MERC2 at the opening round in Sohar and heads an impressive field of Subaru and Mitsubishi drivers chasing showroom class honours. Eight of the 12 crews are registered for the MERC.
