Despite all the political and financial problems in the country, the rally of Lebanon is featuring 41 drivers. No rally in the Middle East rally championship, could top this number. WRC Jordan barely matched the entry list that the Rally of Lebanon has. Regular rallies are featuring less than 10 cars at some point. The Pafos international rally in Cyprus barely saw 25 cars on the grid, although this rally has some European affiliations and Cyprus already has a rich motorsport culture.
Our Rally championship this year has already featured some high number of entrants, reaching 26 in the Cedars Rally that took place in June in addition to 21 cars in the Spring Rally that took place in March. In addition to this our rally also includes record number of spectators. The fact that the rally passes through villages since its beginning created a culture of love to rallies and especially ROL. People start talking about it months before it starts.
The first edition of the rally was known under the name of “Rallye du Montagne”. History has it that Lebanon has the oldest and most successful rally in the region. The international names that participated in ROL throughout history where never topped in any other regional rally in the Middle East.
Although this year will not feature any European driver, but the rally feature excellent and expert European co-drivers in addition to many drivers from the Middle East. Middle Eastern drivers find this rally the most challenging in their championship due to its nature. The tarmac surface makes it very difficult for the Middle Eastern drivers, and the Lebanese drivers show their excellence on their home soil.
The reason behind all this success can be defined through the following points:
- The extreme love of the sport within the Lebanese public.
- The expertise of the organizing body, the ATCL, through the history of the rally and their high professionalism.
- The nature of the country and its people, through its exotic culture.
- The talent of all the people involved in the sport.
At the end we wonder if our rally is scheduled within the WRC championship, or the IRC Championship, how many cars will it feature on the entry list? We are confident that a 3 digit number can be reached.