Competitors from eight countries, including Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah, were flagged away from the start of the 26th Kuwait International Rally at Kuwait Motor Town on Thursday evening.
Al-Attiyah is the top seed and teams up with regular French co-driver Mathieu Baumel in an Autotek Volkswagen Polo GTI. Al-Attiyah arrives in Kuwait with a 24-point advantage over Oman’s Abdullah al-Rawahi in the MERC Drivers’ Championship, courtesy of his early season wins in Oman and Qatar. He will be chasing his 81st career MERC event win, while Baumel will be looking for a 29th success.
Five RC2 rivals and eight further MERC2 entrants will push the Qatari for honours over 10 gravel special stages in the deserts south of Kuwait City. Both Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and 2012 event winner Khaled al-Suwaidi are delighted to be competing again after impressive showings in Qatar last month in their SRT Škoda Fabia R2 evos.
Kuwait is hosting the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) for the
first time since 2018. Today’s stages have been revised and extended slightly from the original itinerary. Action gets underway with a 17.70km special, south of Kuwait City, and this precedes the first of two runs across the gravel tracks of a further pair of 20.65km and 20.73km stages. After a return to Kuwait Motor Town for a regroup and service stop, the three specials will be repeated in the afternoon.
Al-Attiyah is the top seed and teams up with regular French co-driver Mathieu Baumel in an Autotek Volkswagen Polo GTI. Al-Attiyah arrives in Kuwait with a 24-point advantage over Oman’s Abdullah al-Rawahi in the MERC Drivers’ Championship, courtesy of his early season wins in Oman and Qatar. He will be chasing his 81st career MERC event win, while Baumel will be looking for a 29th success.
Five RC2 rivals and eight further MERC2 entrants will push the Qatari for honours over 10 gravel special stages in the deserts south of Kuwait City. Both Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and 2012 event winner Khaled al-Suwaidi are delighted to be competing again after impressive showings in Qatar last month in their SRT Škoda Fabia R2 evos.
Kuwait is hosting the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) for the
first time since 2018. Today’s stages have been revised and extended slightly from the original itinerary. Action gets underway with a 17.70km special, south of Kuwait City, and this precedes the first of two runs across the gravel tracks of a further pair of 20.65km and 20.73km stages. After a return to Kuwait Motor Town for a regroup and service stop, the three specials will be repeated in the afternoon.