Al-Attiyah wins his 17th Qatar Rally championship
- After a hard-fought battle with Norwegian Mads Østberg in which only a few seconds separated them, the Qatari seconds separated them, the Qatari driver took the victory.
- With this first place, the team of Nasser and Baumel now lead the FIA Middle East Rally Championship.
The Middle East Rally Championship, better known as MERC, has finished its second Rally this time in Qatar with one of the most exciting finishes in memory. During February 16,17 and 18 the Volkswagen Polo GTI has crossed the desert and the strong wind with an enviable precision with the Qatari driver at the wheel and Baumel facilitating the indications, managing to win 7 of the 13 special stages.
They were closely followed by the Skoda Fabias that completed the podium, especially Norway’s Mads Østberg and co-driver Patrik Barth, who led twice and won four stages until they could not keep up with Al-Attiyah in the final speed test and last stage of the Qatar rally.
It was clear to Mads that this was Nasser‘s best stage in the whole of Qatar, and even though it might have stressed him a bit, the Qatari kept everything under control and took the victory with a 12.2-second margin. His record now totals 83 race wins in MERC, 17 in Qatar.
