The Kuwait International Motorsport Club (KIMC) has confirmed that the 26th Kuwait International Rally will be round five of the 2021 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) on November 11th-13th.
Kuwait’s top rally has not been held since 2018 and now runs under a new organising committee, with Emad Bukhamseen taking over as chairman of the KIMC board alongside Issa Hamzeh, Mohammed Bukhamseen, Garbis Karzelian, Hamad Marafie, Hamad Al-Saif, Meshari Al-Sabti and Fuad Abu Arja.
We look forward to welcoming international competitors to Kuwait for the rally in November. Our team will work hard to make the new event a success and a worthy round of the regional rally championship.
Emad Bukhamseen
Bukhamseen is a businessman specialising in investments, real estate and publishing. Meshari Al-Sabti will be Clerk of the Course, supported by assistant Hamad Al-Saif. The three-day event runs in co-operation with the Kuwait International Automobile Club (KIAC).
The route
The rally is popular with regional teams, and officials expect a quality international field to tackle 180.60 competitive kilometres over 10 stages in a 517.62km route. Friday, November 12th, has two loops of three desert stages, and Saturday, November 13th, has two stages run twice.
Rally headquarters, the service park and the start and finish podiums will all be at the Seashell Julai’a Hotel and Resort in Al-Qulay’ah.
History
The Kuwait International Rally joined the MERC in 1984, although regional unrest and two Gulf Wars stopped it from 1990-1994 and 1997-2007.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah holds the record for wins. The Qatari took his seventh in 2018, having passed Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s four (1985, 1988, 1989 and 1996) in 2015.
The event was a calendar regular after returning as a candidate rally in 2008, though it did not run in 2017. Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi won the 2008 candidate event, Al-Attiyah won in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018, and there were single wins for Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi in 2010 and Qatar’s Khalid Al-Suwaidi in 2012.
The 2019 event was cancelled at the last minute and Covid-19 ended plans for 2020. Entries for 2021 opened last Sunday and close on Wednesday, October 27th.