DOHA: The 2026 Qatar International Rally officially began on Thursday evening with a ceremonial start at the service park adjacent to the Lusail Sports Arena.
A total of 23 crews representing 13 nations will contest the event, which features 12 gravel special stages across the weekend on fast, graded tracks north of Doha. Cars were flagged off the podium in reverse order by QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai and QMMF Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad.
New Qualifying Stage Introduced for MERC
A new Qualifying Stage at Al-Khor was held on Thursday morning to determine the starting order for the leading six Rally2 crews. The concept, being trialled for the first time in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), was introduced by the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) as a fresh innovation for the series.
Al-Attiyah Sets the Benchmark
Defending champions Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and co-driver Candido Carrera set the pace in their Autotek Škoda Fabia RS, posting a fastest time of 3min 11.1sec.
Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Ata Al-Hmoud finished 49.7 seconds behind the leaders, with Al-Rawahi later revealing that his strategy was to secure first position on the road for Friday’s opening leg.
Abdulaziz and Nasser Al-Kuwari recorded the second-fastest time, 9.6 seconds adrift of Al-Attiyah.
Drivers React to Qualifying Stage
Al-Attiyah was pleased with the opening performance:
“It was a good run and we are quite happy with the performance of the car. Everything was working very well. For Qatar Rally, it is better to start behind.”
Al-Kuwari was equally upbeat despite a small mistake:
“Good recce and good stages. I am looking forward to them. The qualifying stage was good. We lost one or two seconds in one corner with a small overshoot but it was a good feeling. I am happy although I think this may be my only rally this year.”
He also commented on Al-Rawahi’s approach to road position:
“Abdullah’s strategy could be right or it could be wrong. On this type of stage there is not too much cleaning. It’s fast, but with more cars passing there are more rocks. He knows his plan and he is fighting for the championship.”
Penalties Shake Up Order
Mohammed Al-Marri (Citroën C3) and Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (Ford Fiesta) were classified third and fourth respectively. However, Hamza Bakhashab and Lorcan Moore were handed a 45-second penalty in their Jameel Motorsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 for clipping three stage gates, which means they will now open the road on Friday.
Al-Rawahi and Al-Kuwari also received five-second penalties each for similar infractions.
Al-Rawahi Focused on Survival Strategy
Al-Rawahi explained his cautious approach:
“We don’t actually have any parts to push, so we just needed to be clean. We need to avoid punctures and breaking anything. I think we did the right thing. The new stages are similar to ones we have done before. It’s going to be a tough rally.”
The top six crews will start Friday’s opening stage in reverse order of their Qualifying Stage results.
Practice Runs and Shakedown Completed
Before qualifying, the six leading crews were allowed two practice passes on the 5.56km stage. Al-Attiyah topped the times on his second run with a near-identical benchmark of 3min 11.11sec.
Behind him, Al-Kuwari recorded 3min 17.10sec, followed by Al-Rawahi (3min 17.25sec), Bakhashab (3min 18.96sec), Al-Marri (3min 25.74sec) and Al-Atya (3min 30.3sec).
The remaining 17 teams were later permitted to use the same stage for pre-event testing, which also served as the mandatory shakedown. Twelve crews took advantage of the opportunity ahead of the rally’s competitive start.
