The Automobile et Touring Club du Liban (ATCL) has officially announced the 38th Rally of Lebanon, which it will organise on September 3, 4, 5 and 6 as round four of this year’s Middle East Rally Championship. The announcement came at a packed press conference at the club’s headquarters in Kaslik.
Attendees included ATCL secretary-general Camille Edde, treasurer Gilbert Messayhi, board members, club director-general Charbel Gerges, motorsport committee head Imad Lahoud, rally officials, Fouad Chehab Sports Complex director Asbar Zwein, sponsors and a large number of journalists. Media personality Gabriel Mourad hosted the event.
The Rally of Lebanon has become an annual event with both a sporting and a tourist face. It attracts great public and media interest and has become a landmark in Middle East motorsport, and its entry level is among the highest on the Middle East Championship calendar. Closing entries at 37 cars is proof of that.
Camille Edde, ATCL secretary-general
Edde thanked the ATCL board under Sheikh Fouad El Khazen, the motorsport committee under Imad Lahoud and the organising committee, and welcomed FIA Vice-President Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Middle East and North Africa club officials, FIA officials, drivers and the Arab and foreign media.
Lahoud spoke of the preparations to keep the rally’s organisational standards high and of the fierce competition expected between Lebanese, Arab and foreign drivers, led by Roger Feghali and Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah. He thanked everyone helping to make the “pearl” of Middle East rallies a success, including the roughly 1,200 people working on the event, and said the club would host a meeting of Middle East and North Africa motoring club delegates chaired by Al-Attiyah.
Motorsport committee director Gaby Kreiker thanked the ministries, municipalities, security forces, sponsors and media, and said the FIA had appointed Elie Semaan as its observer for the event.
Route and schedule
Organising committee chairman Fady Aoun said the route covers 815km in total, including 244.03km of special stages. The rally starts with a ceremony at 19:30 on Thursday, September 3, at the club headquarters in Kaslik, followed by the super special stage at 17:30 on Friday, September 4, in the Starco area of Beirut Central District.
Saturday’s action begins with the Blat–Tourzaya stage and ends with stage seven, Ain Aaya–Deir Billa. The final day features six stages, starting with Zandouka–Bezbdine and ending with the 13th and last stage, Nahr Ibrahim–Mechmech, with the podium ceremony at 18:30 on Sunday at the club.
Entry list
Rally director Issam Hatti said 37 cars will start, led by Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, holder of many international and regional titles and seeking his first Rally of Lebanon win; Roger Feghali, who has won the rally a record 11 times; and 2014 winner Nicolas Amiouni, alongside the top Lebanese drivers.
Kuwait’s Salah Bin Eidan and Meshari Al-Thefiri, Qatar’s Khaled Al-Suwaidi and Rashid Al-Naimi, and Germany’s Edith Weiss are among the other entrants, while co-drivers from France, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal and Ireland will join the Lebanese navigators. Hatti added that a press conference with the leading drivers would be held at the club before the start.