KUWAIT CITY: Six-time event winner and defending FIA Middle East Rally Champion Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (pictured) tops a fascinating entry list for next month’s Kuwait International Rally, the fourth round of the 2018 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC). The event takes place on November 1-3.
Bidding to win the regional title for the 14th time in 17 years, Al Attiyah teams up with his usual French navigator Matthieu Baumel at the head of an international field of competitors from Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, France, Czech Republic, Italy and Portugal. Local hopes rest firmly on the shoulders of Meshari Al Thefiri and his Qatari co-driver Nasser Al Kuwari. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X driver tops the Group N or showroom category and is hoping to confirm a fourth MERC 2 title.
Other Kuwaiti drivers on the list include Jassim Al-Muqahwi, Masoud Al-Saleh, Mohammed Al-Thefiri, Farad Al-Mutairi and Mubarak Al-Thefiri. One of the surprise names on the entry list is that of Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah, the former President of the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) and former FIA and FIM Vice-President. A regular on the regional rallying scene throughout the 1990s – where he missed out on the overall MERC title to Sheikh Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani in 1993.
He did compete at a Ha’il International Rally a few years ago in a Land Rover and has called upon the services of the late 2010 MERC champion Misfer Al-Marri’s Italian navigator Nicola Arena to keep him on the straight and narrow over the demanding Kuwaiti gravel and sandy special stages.
