The headline was always going to be extraordinary – the question was simply which one would make the frontpages?
Would it be that Nasser Al-Attiyah, 18 times the king of the Middle East Rally Championship, was finally dethroned? Or that Al-Attiyah would sensationally share his 19th outright and 13th successive MERC title with another driver?
Heading into the final round, Cyprus Rally, Al-Attiyah knew he needed a win after he crashed out of the last round in Lebanon. Mercifully, title rival Abdullah Al-Rawahi didn’t win, handing the Qatari the lifeline he needed.
Al-Attiyah stepped up to the plate in Cyprus. He and co-driver Mathieu Baumel led from start to finish to win in their Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 by over three minutes. But second place for Al-Rawahi and co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud created an unprecedented scenario.
Middle East Rally Championship standings:
| Driver | Wins | Seconds | Retirements | Points |
| Al-Attiyah | 2 | 2 | 1 | 108 |
| Al-Rawahi | 2 | 2 | 1 | 108 |
After five rounds, there was absolutely no way to split Al-Attiyah or Al-Rawahi.
In such circumstances, the FIA Regional Rally sporting regulations stipulate the FIA itself will decide the winner – a situation that nearly unfolded in WRC3 this year too.
So a six-man committee met – including Petter Solberg and Hayden Paddon – to decide a victor, but in the end they couldn’t “in the absence of clear regulations and insufficient criteria to decide otherwise”.
That means for the first time in MERC history, the championship is shared between two drivers. It confirms Al-Attiyah’s 19th success, while it’s Al-Rawahi’s first.
Solberg and Paddon put forward the suggestion that the result of the final round should decide the championship result in this circumstance, and that will be put to the FIA World Motor Sport Council when it next meets in December.
Both Al-Attiyah and Al-Rawahi will attend the FIA Prize Giving on December 8, where Al-Attiyah will also collect trophies for the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) and FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas.
