Roger Feghali and co-driver Joseph Matar won the 40th Spring Rally, organised over two days by the Automobile and Touring Club of Lebanon (ATCL) in the Keserwan and Jbeil districts. Bassel Abu Hamdan and Firas Elias finished second, 27.5 seconds behind, with Nicolas Amiouni and Chadi Beyrouthy third, 35 seconds behind the winners and 7.7 seconds behind Abu Hamdan, who won a heated battle for second with the returning Amiouni.
The rally was round one of the 2025 Lebanese Rally Championship. It covered 284.19km, including 101.14km over six special stages, among them the 2.52km opening super special, won by Feghali on Saturday at the ATCL headquarters in Kaslik in front of a big crowd. The rally concluded on Sunday with five special stages.
How the rally unfolded
Feghali and Matar led from start to finish. Sunday brought showers under cloudy skies and a four-way fight for the lead – with Feghali holding the upper hand – between Feghali, Abu Hamdan, Amiouni (back after eight years away and the 2014 Lebanese rally champion) and Rabih Ayoub. Fans braved the bad weather to line the stages.
- SS1: Feghali fastest, ahead of Abu Hamdan and Amiouni
- SS2: Feghali, Amiouni, Abu Hamdan
- SS3: Feghali, Ayoub, Abu Hamdan
- SS4: Amiouni fastest, ahead of Feghali and Abu Hamdan
- SS5: Feghali, Abu Hamdan, Ayoub
- SS6: Feghali, Abu Hamdan, Amiouni
Seventeen cars reached the finish, with four retirements.
Provisional classification
- Roger Feghali / Joseph Matar – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10: 1h01m33s
- Bassel Abu Hamdan / Firas Elias – Volkswagen Polo GTI: +27.5s
- Nicolas Amiouni / Chadi Beyrouthy – Skoda Fabia: +35.0s
- Rabih Ayoub / Georges Nader – Skoda Fabia: 1h02m30s
- Tarek Younis / Salim Jleilaty – Ford Fiesta: 1h05m27s
- Rodrigue Rahi / Gary Koundakjian – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10: 1h05m35s
- Henry Kahy / Ramy Menhem – Citroën DS3: 1h06m50s
- Charbel Chebli / Dolyne Chlink – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9: 1h06m58s
- David Mezher / Chady Nasr – Ford Fiesta: 1h07m04s
- Ahmad Khaled / Omar Mazkour – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10: 1h07m20s
- Ria Dagher / Nadim Abou Elias – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10: 1h08m23s
- Mohammad Tajeddine / Vicken Kanledjian – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10: 1h08m28s
- Rayan Khneisser / Christopher Bechara – Peugeot 208 VTi: 1h13m29s
- Tony Germanos / Joseph Kmeid – Renault Clio: 1h14m02s
- Nadi Yazbek / Marvin Dinar – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8: 1h16m08s
- Joanna Hassoun / Elie Mhanna – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9: 1h16m57s
- Joey El Hajj / Christopher Kanledjian – Hyundai i20: 1h22m27s
Class results
Feghali, who took his 18th Spring Rally win, also won the RC2-R4 class with Matar.
- RC2-R4: 1. Roger Feghali / Joseph Matar, 2. Rodrigue Rahi / Gary Koundakjian
- RC2 Rally2: 1. Bassel Abu Hamdan / Firas Elias, 2. Nicolas Amiouni / Chadi Beyrouthy, 3. Rabih Ayoub / Georges Nader
- Homologation cup: Tarek Younis / Salim Jleilaty
- RC4-R3T: Henry Kahy / Ramy Menhem
- NS3: 1. Charbel Chebli / Dolyne Chlink, 2. Nadi Yazbek / Marvin Dinar, 3. Joanna Hassoun / Elie Mhanna
- RC3 R3: David Mezher / Chady Nasr
- RC2 NR4: 1. Ahmad Khaled / Omar Mazkour, 2. Ria Dagher / Nadim Abou Elias, 3. Mohammad Tajeddine / Vicken Kanledjian
- RC4 R4: Rayan Khneisser / Christopher Bechara
- RC5-R5: 1. Tony Germanos / Joseph Kmeid, 2. Joey El Hajj / Christopher Kanledjian
- Ladies’ Cup (drivers): Ria Dagher
- Ladies’ Cup (co-drivers): Dolyne Chlink
- Young co-driver cup: Christopher Bechara
Podium ceremony
The podium ceremony took place on Sunday afternoon at the ATCL in Kaslik, opening with the national anthem. Attendees included ATCL president lawyer Elie Assaf, vice-president Assaad Mirza, secretary-general Camille Eddé, auditor and board member Roger Zovighian, motorsport committee coordinator Imad Lahoud, board members Serge Zouein, Moussa Nammour, Nassib Haddad, Elian Moawad, Corinne Estephan and Daniel Kassarmalli, Miss Lebanon Nada Koussa, Coral representative Jihad Irani, ATCL director-general Vera Antoun, national sports committee director Sleiman Khattar, motorsport department head Gaby Kraiker, clerk of the course Lydia Labaki and her deputies lawyer Ziad Jammous (organising committee chairman) and Roy Mokarzel, rally officials and a big crowd of fans.