The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) will host round two of the 2023 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) for the second successive season on February 16th-18th.
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.
Oman hosts the opening round of the six-event series on January 26th-28th, and after Qatar the championship moves to Kuwait (March 16th-18th), Jordan (May 18th-20th), Lebanon (September 1st-3rd) and Cyprus (September 22nd-24th).
New floodlit super special
Scrutineering and the media centre will be based at the LCSC Karting Academy for the first time. After technical checks on Wednesday and Thursday (February 15th and 16th), the rally begins with the traditional pre-event press conference and ceremonial start.
Competition opens with a new floodlit 3.27km super special at the LCSC Karting Academy from 20.00hrs on Thursday evening.
The demanding Qatari deserts then host two days of action. Friday (February 17th) features two loops of three stages, with crews tackling the challenging Al-Khor special and revised gravel tests at Ras Laffan and Al-Thakira in the north of the country.
Saturday (February 18th) brings two passes through a new stage at Waab Al-Mashrab and stages similar to last year at Al-Waab and Umm Birka, before the post-event press conference, prize-giving and ceremonial finish from 18.30hrs.
The rally runs under the chairmanship of QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai, senior committee member Abdulrazaq Al-Kuwari and QMMF Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad. Portugal’s Pedro Almeida will be Clerk of the Course alongside his deputy Rashed Al-Sulaiti. Almeida is currently in a similar role at the 45th Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.
After the success of the Qatar International Rally in 2022, that attracted several exciting names from the world of rallying, we are particularly excited about hosting the 2023 event. Our team has made slight revisions and improvements to the format, made the route even more compact and introduced tweaks to polish what is already viewed as one of the leading rallies in the region.
Amro Al-Hamad, QMMF Executive Director
Entry concessions
The QMMF has announced generous concessions for international and GCC competitors. International competitors (cars and T4 entries) will receive a $6,000 shipping allowance and GCC entrants $3,000, subject to their vehicles passing scrutineering and administrative checks.
Entry fees will also be refunded, and competitors entering before the first cut-off date will receive a bonus of 1,000 QAR. The QMMF will also arrange economy class flights for driver and co-driver once entry fees are paid, and provide one twin room with breakfast for five nights.
Entries close on Thursday, January 19th, with a final cut-off date of Thursday, February 2nd.