Rally of Lebanon stages records and times evolution since 2012

August 26, 2015 – Over the years, a variety of villages have hosted special stages that were part of the most important event on the Lebanese motorsport calendar, Rally of Lebanon, which is also a round of the Middle East Rally Championship.

Some of these special stages haven’t appeared on the ROL itinerary in many years, including Bteghrine, which last hosted a special stage in 2012, and Kfarhilda, which hasn’t made an appearance since 2011.

However, other stages have been featured recurrently on the Rally of Lebanon itinerary, and the best example is Zandouka, which has been consistently on the calendar for the past few years.

The 2015 Rally of Lebanon will feature 13 special stages on 6 different routes: Blat, Toula, Ain Aaya, Zandouka, Zabbougha and Nahr Ibrahim. Of the six special stages mentioned, only Toula is new, while the other five aren’t. Here are the years they appeared in since 2011:

Blat: 2014, 2012
Ain Aaya: 2014, 2012, 2011
Zandouka: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
Zabbougha: 2014, 2013
Nahr Ibrahim: 2014, 2013, 2011

Their recurrence gives us the opportunity to conduct comparisons of the fastest times from the last few years, specifically between 2012 and 2014.

Nasser-Al-Attiyah-Rally-of-Lebanon-2013

Blat – 17.36 kilometers:
2014: Abdo Feghali – 10:42.6
2012: Roger Feghali – 10:09.0

Ain Aaya – 21.40 kilometers:
2014: Nicolas Amiouni – 13:03.0
2012: Roger Feghali – 12:28.0

Zandouka – 17.67 kilometers:
2014: Roger Feghali – 10:17.1
2013: Nasser Al-Attiyah – 09:31.2
2012: Roger Feghali – 10:16.5

Zabbougha – 20.14 kilometers:
2014: Roger Feghali – 12:50.4
2013: Roger Feghali – 12:09.0
*The stage was 0.63 km shorter in 2013 than in 2014

Nahr Ibrahim – 15.42 kilometers:
2014: Roger Feghali – 09:41.1
2013: Roger Feghali – 09:06.5

Zandouka is the only stage that provides a clear comparison between the last three years, with its fastest time in 2013 significantly quicker than its times in 2012 and 2014. Other stages, such as Blat and Ain Aaya, show that 2012 times were also much faster than last year’s times, while the Nahr Ibrahim stage reasserts that 2013 times were quicker than in 2014.

The Zabbougha stage isn’t very representative as it was 0.63 kilometers longer in 2014 than in 2013, but it won’t make much of a difference, as even if it was the same distance in both years, the times in 2013 would still be faster.

Times in 2013 and 2012 were much faster than in 2014 for one obvious reason: the top drivers were competing in RRC machinery in 2013 and 2012, but the fastest man drove an R4 last year.

With Nasser Al-Attiyah opting for a Skoda Fabia R5 and Roger Feghali for a Ford Fiesta R5 , it’s going to be interesting to see how stage times will unfold.