Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah has won a record 21st FIA Middle East Rally Championship title after snatching victory at the Cyprus Rally, the fifth and final round of the 2026 season, by just 4.63 seconds.
The Qatari and Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera beat local hero Simos Galatariotis on the final stage of the 52nd Cyprus Rally on Sunday 25 October. It was the second-closest finish in the event’s history; the closest remains Galatariotis’s 0.7-second win over Magalhães in 2018.
No spare tyre, no margin for error
Al-Attiyah’s weekend did not go to plan. Problems on the first two afternoon stages left him around a minute behind, while Galatariotis won three stages in a row to lead by 3.6 seconds going into the last one. Driving without a spare tyre, Al-Attiyah was 8.7 seconds faster than his rival on the final stage to take the win and the title.
He won six of the stages in his Škoda Fabia RS, Galatariotis four and Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi one. The rally covered 657.74 km, including 12 gravel special stages totalling 183.92 km; the first stage on Sunday was cancelled after spectators ignored marshals’ safety instructions.
A tenth win on the island
The victory was Al-Attiyah’s tenth on the Cyprus Rally. Speaking to Qatar News Agency, he said the rally had been far from easy, with challenges right to the final metres, but that he never lost confidence in his ability to recover. He dedicated the win to Qatar, its leadership and its fans.
How the title was decided
Al-Attiyah arrived in Cyprus leading the standings on 70 points, ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Hamza Bakhashab (66), Qatar’s Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (61) and Al-Rawahi (56).
Bakhashab, 22, co-driven by Lebanon’s Joseph Matar, set two top-three stage times on Sunday and finished seventh. Al-Rawahi retired on the first afternoon stage while running third, and Al-Atya finished tenth.
The 21st crown extends Al-Attiyah’s record as the most successful driver in the history of the championship. There is no rest: next up is the new Oman International Baja in Bidiyah on 17–19 December, where he will race a Taurus T3 Max in the Challenger category.
Sources: Cyprus Mail, QNA, Cyprus Mail preview.