Sohar, Oman – The Oman International Rally kickstarts another season of Middle East rallying when it gets underway from the Sohar Entertainment Centre (SEC) on Thursday afternoon.

Organised by the Oman Automobile Association (OAA), the opening round of the 2025 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) has attracted a field of 16 teams and competitors from nine countries, in addition to six crews competing in the Oman National Championship.

The event is being run under the chairmanship of Brigadier Jamal Said al Tai, organising panel member Suleiman al Rawahi and Rally Director Anwar al Zadjali. Three recent Middle East champions head a star-studded regional field, who will tackle 13 special stages and 232.39 competitive kilometres over the coming three days.

The MERC event has moved to the Al Batinah North Governorate and the city of Sohar for the first time, although a national event did stages in the region 12 years ago. All six gravel stages to the west of Sohar are brand new but have not lost the legendary fast and flowing nature of the stunning terrain on offer in the Sultanate.

As Chris Hodgson, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, explained: “This is a completely new route but it is very typically Oman, with wadis, hills and loose gravel. The stages are located half way between Muscat and Dubai. Sohar is the main shipping centre for Oman and, perhaps, the fastest growing city in the country.

“The stages may look easy but they aren’t. There are a lot of places that could catch people out. In places, it is quite narrow and punctures are always a risk out there. We are the Oman Automobile Association and not the Muscat Automobile Association and we wanted to take the sport to the people.

“The Sohar Municipality have been massively supportive and have done everything they can to make it happen. We have worked closely with them and called upon their support for the supply of around 2,500 tonnes of recycled gravel for stage grading.”

Top seed Abdulaziz al Kuwari finished his first ever Dakar Rally in fourth place in the Challenger category last week, but the defending regional champion will need to revert to special stage mode quickly this weekend. He wheels out a QMMF-backed Citroën C3 and has recruited the services of Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore.

Likewise, Nasser al Attiyah took part in the recent Dakar Rally and finished fourth with his French navigator Edouard Boulanger. The pair retain their partnership for the Qatari’s quest for a record eighth win in Oman in an Autotek Motorsport-run Škoda Fabia RS. Boulanger is making his MERC debut.

Oman’s Abdullah al Rawahi and his Jordanian co-driver Ata-Hmoud are also running an Autotek Škoda, as the local hero and 2023 regional champion attempts to complete a hat-trick of wins in his home rally.

The QMMF has also supported an entry for Rashed al Muhannadi and he runs a Peugeot 208 Rally 4 with backing from the Qatar Motorsports Academy. Irishman Gary Mcelhinney has competed in countries as diverse as the USA, Spain, Tanzania, Zambia and Barbados and will read the pace notes for the Qatari for the first time.

Six teams will be chasing MERC2 honours in a fleet of Subarus and Mitsubishis. The Jordanian duo of Shadi Shaban and Issa al Shorafa lead the way against Oman’s Abdullah al Zubair and Zakariya al Aamri, Lebanon’s Ahmad Khaled and India’s Mohamed Mansoor Parol.

Shadi El Fakih wheels out last year’s MERC5-winning Renault Clio and Rally 4 competition for Al Muhannadi comes from the Indian pairing of Payyaakkal Panikkaveettil and Musa Sherif in their Ford Fiesta.