JEDDAH: Oman’s Abdullah al Rawahi resumes his quest for honours in the 2025 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (Merc) at this weekend’s Rally Saudi Arabia (May 1-3), a new round of the regional series that has attracted 29 entries across the various categories.
The Kingdom returns to the regional championship for the first time in 15 years and the Oman Rally Team star will team up with Great Britain’s Ross Whittock in an Autotek Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2 on the Jeddah-based three-day event.
Al Rawahi said: “Saudi Arabia is the third round of the championship and is a new rally for everyone. It’s going to be very challenging but I don’t really know what to expect so far. I haven’t seen the stages. We will try to adapt really fast. Ata (Al Hmoud) is not with me this time. Ross is going to join me. We have worked together in the WRC before so I think we can work around it and give the maximum.
“In terms of the car, we have been working hard to get the best out of it. Recently, we have been happy with it. I am hoping we can perform well with the right set-up. We can’t make any changes until we see the stages. Then we will make up our mind and test a few things on the car in Saudi. Our plan is to push and try and secure the win. It won’t be easy with the challenge from Nasser (Al Attiyah) and other good drivers in the line-up. We will do our best and hopefully come out with a good result.”
In addition to running as a round of the regional series for the first time since 2010, the new-look rally will also act as the Kingdom’s official candidate event before it joins the FIA World Rally Championship for the first time at the end of November.
Al Rawahi, the joint 2023 regional champion, will be aiming to close the gap on Nasser al Attiyah in the points’ standings after the opening two rounds in Oman and Qatar. Al Attiyah is bidding for a 20th regional title and leads the series with 70 points. Local driver Rakan al Rashed and Al Rawahi are his closest challengers with four rounds remaining.
The Oman Rally Team has received further backing from Al Manar Investments, the Oman Automobile Association, WMS, Zamakan, OQ, Strike, Size, the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture of Oman and National Finance.
29-CAR ENTRY
The 29-car entry includes nine Rally2 cars, six SSVs and 21 crews registered for points in the Merc. They will tackle six brand new gravel stages that will be repeated twice over the weekend, parts of which are sure to be used in the inaugural WRC event later in the year.
Additional Rally2 competition comes from the likes of the defending regional champion Abdulaziz al Kuwari (Citroen C3), new FIA Master Merc Driver series leader Nasser al Atya (Ford), Jordan’s Bader al Fayez (Skoda) and Toyota Gazzo Racing WRT’s Juho Hanninen, who is not chasing points in the Merc.
Rally Saudi Arabia is based at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit with the Rally HQ running out of the Race Tower.
On Tuesday, competitors carry out their first full day of reconnaissance of the second day’s special stages and the shakedown stage, before completing the process with a look at Friday’s stages on Wednesday.
They will then tackle 192.24 competitive kilometres in an expansive route of 824.35 km over the weekend. Friday’s action is centred around terrain to the east of Jeddah and features two passes through the Buraiman, Wadi al Matwi and Um al Jerem.
Saturday’s stages head north and centre on two runs through the Al Ghulal, Asfan and Thahban stages. The second pass through Thahban also acts as the event’s Power Stage of 9.34 km.
2025 FIA Middle East Rally Championship – positions after round 2:
1. Nasser Saleh al Attiyah (QAT) 70 pts
2. Rakan al Rashed (KSA) 48 pts
3. Abdullah al Rawahi (OMN) 43 pts
4. Nasser Khalifa al Atya (QAT) 38 pts
5. Rashid al Muhannadi (QAT) 32 pts
6. Shadi Shaban (JOR) 28 pts
7. Abdulaziz al Kuwari (QAT) 24 pts
8. Denis Krotov (KGZ) 18 pts
9. Abdullah al Zubair (OMN) 16 pts
10. Zakariya al Aamri (OMN) 14pts
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