The Qatar International Rally 2016 will start on February 4th with world champion Nasser bin Saleh al-Attiyah leading the entry list. There will be 15 participants in this year’s edition with participants expected from European countries like Sweden and Italy. In addition, rally drivers from Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have also confirmed their participation.
This event is one of the flagship events conducted under the QMMF umbrella and will be a three-day event. It will have 13 stages including link stages. The total distance covered by the participants will be 535.24km. The rally will begin in front of the QMMF headquarters (on Salwa Road) at 7:30am on Feb 4.
Marwan Musabeh will be the Clerk of the Course for the QIR and he said that QMMF’s focus was to improve motorsport in the Qatar and in the region. The focus is on providing support to and helping developing the young talent in the country. He confirmed that rallying was growing in popularity and that a large number of the youth in Qatar, as well as the region, were taking up the sport.
This rally will also serve as the opening round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) 2016. “It is with great pride and honour that Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation will once again host the opening round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship. I am delighted to welcome each and every one of you, the drivers, organisers, media, sponsors and spectators to participate in one of the toughest rallies and most prestigious events in the world,” said QMMF president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah during the launch of the event.
This year the MERC will see an additional two rounds with rallies in Oman and Iran being included. “This year our MERC calendar has an additional two rounds with Oman and Iran participating and this will add to the challenge for the competitors, promising to make this year’s championship even more exciting than 2014,” al-Attiyah said.
Confirming meanwhile that rallies sport is considered one of the most important sports that attractive a large number of youth in both Qatar and the whole region, as this sport contributed much in highlighting a large number of young faces who proved their proficiency throughout the achievements that they have scored in the international championships.
2016 FIA MERC calendar
Feb. 4-6: Qatar International Rally
March 24-26: Kuwait International Rally
May 5-7:Jordan International Rally
Sep. 2-4: Lebanon International Rally
Oct. 7-9: Cyprus International Rally
Nov. 3-5: Oman International Rally
Nov. 17-19 Dubai International Rally
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