Norwegian WRC stars Andreas Mikkelsen and Mads Østberg and flying Finn Emil Lindholm have added Scandinavian sparkle to an impressive entry list announced today (subject to FIA approval) by the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) for next weekend’s Qatar International Rally (February 16th-18th).
Round two of the 2023 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) has attracted 24 cars in the FIA field and competitors from 13 nations, plus crews in a national event running behind the main rally.
Østberg returns for a second successive season after retiring from the lead in 2022, while Mikkelsen and Lindholm will be competing in Qatar for the first time. Østberg has also previously contested the Jordan round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
The three Scandinavians will drive Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evos run by Sports Racing Technologies (SRT), the team that also ran Østberg and Kris Meeke in Qatar last February.
The Scandinavian trio
The 35-year-old Østberg’s only WRC win came in Portugal in 2012, but he has won 65 WRC special stages, took the 2020 FIA WRC2 Championship with PH Sport and finished second in 2021 with the TRT World Rally Team. As a Citroën factory driver he was also runner-up in the 2019 WRC2 Pro series, and in 2022 he won the Hungarian Rally Championship. Sweden’s Patrik Barth is his regular co-driver.
Mikkelsen, 33, is also an experienced WRC campaigner and multiple event winner, with victories in Spain in 2015 and Poland and Australia in 2016 for the official Volkswagen team. He won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in 2011 and 2012 and both the FIA WRC2 title and the FIA European Rally Championship in 2021. Fellow Norwegian Torstein Eriksen will co-drive.
Lindholm, 26, is the youngest and least experienced of the three but is the reigning FIA WRC2 champion. He won his category in Finland and Greece last year and finished third in Croatia, Estonia and Japan. Finland’s Reeta Hämäläinen, 34, will co-drive.
Home challenge
For the third year, Al-Attiyah and his Andorra-based co-driver Mathieu Baumel will face WRC opposition on the defending champion’s home rally. Al-Attiyah has 16 Qatar wins to his name, although he starts the event second in the regional championship after losing out to Abdullah Al-Rawahi in Oman last month.
The home challenge is strengthened by two QMMF Rally Team entries for 2012 event winner Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Khalid Al-Suwaidi, a two-time winner of the Kuwait International Rally. Two further QMMF-backed Volkswagen Polo GTI Rally2 cars are also entered, as veteran Sadoon Al-Kuwari celebrates 40 years as an active competitor.
MERC leader Abdullah Al-Rawahi will be chasing valuable points in his bid for a first regional title, and Qatari veteran Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya completes the Rally2 entry in his Ford Fiesta R5.
MERC2 and T4
Eleven versions of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and two Subaru Impreza STIs will contest the FIA MERC2 category. Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri won in Oman last month and heads a field including compatriot Yousef Al-Dhafeeri and the Jordanian sextet of Shaker Jweihan, Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez, Issa Abu Jamous, Ihab Al-Shorafa, Shadi Shaban and Sami Fleifel.
Lebanese drivers Ahmad Khaled and Jad Al-Aawar add to the MERC2 field, along with a QMMF-supported Mitsubishi for local driver Abdullah Al-Rabban and a QMMF-backed Subaru for Rashid Al-Muhannadi.
T4 cross-country vehicles are also eligible for the MERC, and Italy’s Stefano Marrini (Can-Am) and Qatar’s Khalid Al-Muhannadi (Polaris) will fight for class honours.
The rally again runs under the chairmanship of QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai, senior committee member Abdulrazaq Al-Kuwari and QMMF Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad.
We are delighted to announce a formidable entry for Qatar’s round of the regional rally championship. This is the third year we have attracted some top names from the WRC and we have a record nine Rally2 cars in the field, including five drivers from Qatar. We have two winners of WRC rallies, the last three WRC2 winners, our five-time Dakar Rally winner and four drivers who have previously won rounds of the MERC.
Amro Al-Hamad
QMMF officials have prepared a slightly revised three-day format with 13 timed special stages and 209.69 competitive kilometres in a 618.52km route.
The action begins with a new floodlit 3.27km super special stage at Lusail, starting at 20.00hrs next Thursday evening (February 16th).