Attiyah heads star-studded field for Oman rally
FIA MERC: ROUND ONE
One of the top drivers in the world, Nasser Saleh al Attiyah, will be the star attraction at the 2020 Oman International Rally, the opening round of the 2020 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), which will be held from February 6-8.
The prestigious MERC round returns to Oman for the first time since 2015 and is a result of the efforts put in by the Oman Automobile Association (OAA) officials to put the sultanate on the regional rallying map, where Oman was once a regular stop.
The Qatari, who is the defending MERC champion, and a fivetime winner of the rally in Oman, will look to kick-start the regional season on a winning note along with his regular French co-driver Matthieu Baumel in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 run by Autotek Motorsport.
The opening round has attracted 18 entrants and Nasser Saleh al Attiyah is expected to face a challenge from two other R5 cars in the hands of Qatar’s Nasser Khalifa al Attiyah and Oman's young Abdullah al Rawahi.
Both Nasser Khalifa and Rawahi wheel out Ford Fiesta R5s, while the event marks the regional return to action of Giovanni Bernacchini, the veteran Italian co-driver who amassed 25 regional rally wins with Nasser Saleh al Attiyah.
He teams up with Nasser Khalifa on this occasion while Rawahi will be partnered by Jordanian Ata al Hmoud.
The MERC 2 category for showroom-type Group N vehicles has been dominated by Meshari al Thefiri in recent seasons and the Kuwaiti returns to defend his title in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X with Irish co-driver Derek O’Brien sitting alongside for the first time.
Thefiri faces competition from the likes of Kuwait’s Jassim al Muqahwi.
Omani drivers dominate the entry in a range of N4 Mitsubishis and Subarus.
Zakariya al Aufi leads the way with the likes of Saif al Harthy, Zakariya al Amri, Khalid al Manji and Faisal al Rashdi likely to feature on the upper reaches of the leaderboard.
Lebanon’s Henry Kahy has dominated the MERC 3 or two-wheel drive category for the last two seasons in his Škoda Fabia and returns to defend his title.
His regular Jordanian co-driver Musa Djiyerian suffered a back injury on a round of the Saudi Desert Rally Championship at the end of 2019 and has been forced to miss the season on medical grounds. His place alongside Kahy is taken by fellow Lebanese Rony Maroun.
Running at the rear of the field behind a plethora of local N4 entrants, there are a pair of Group A Toyota Yaris rally cars for Omani drivers Mohammed al Mazroui and Waheeb al Kharusi.
The event starts from the Oman Automobile Association on February 6, Thursday.
Teams will then tackle two loops of three special stages on Friday starting with the first pass through the 19.20km of Misfah. The 16.1 km of Saal follows and precedes Madinat Al-Irfan (11.6km).
The three specials are repeated in the afternoon and a further two passes through three more stages brings the action to a close on Saturday afternoon. In a route of 532.50km, 201km will be against the clock.