Sunday 18 / January / 2026
Muscat: After last year success, once again Sohar will host for the second time the first round of the Middle East Rally Championship this Friday and Saturday, January 23 and 24, preceded by the super special stage on Thursday, January 22, 2026 spectators.
Organized by the Oman Automobile Association in conjunction with the Sohar Entertainment Festival and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the Batinah North Governorate office and Toyota Oman, the excitement, and funs of the rally is returning to the roads and tracks of the rally in Sohar, which usually witnesses fierce competition for the top positions in all categories.
The list of participants in the rally includes the champion of this championship on 20 previous occasions, the Qatari championship, Nasser Al-Attiyah in a Skoda Fabia with his Spanish navigator Carrera Caneda, as well as the young driver Abdullah Al-Rawahi and his Jordanian assistant Atta Al-Hamoud on a Skodia Fabia to join the series of names that compete for the title of this round after returning from injury due to the accident he suffered in the local rally of Lebanon, who is trying to get a third title for this championship At home and among its fans.
The list includes a number of well-known names in the Middle East rally, including veteran Qatari driver Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Jordanian driver Bader Al-Fayez, Ihab Al-Shorfa, young Saudi racer Hamza Bakhashab, Qatari Rashid Al-Muhannadi, Mohammed Al-Marri, Shadi Fakih, Kuwaiti Jassim Al-Maqhwi, Jordanian Shaker Juwaihan, in addition to Sami Fleifel, Indian driver Saneem and Mohammed Al- Shorfa, and Raya Dagher and Farah Zakaria, in addition to our rally driver Zakaria Al-Amri with his navigator Mohammed Al-Mazroui and a group of other local racers in the category. The local rally, including Zakaria Al-Aufi, Haitham Soomar, Faisal Al-Rashidi, Ghaith Al-Qasimi, Salem Al-Touqi and others, this rally also will mark the absence of Abdullah Al Zuabir one of the best talented drivers.
The competition will start on Thursday from the entertainment centre in Sohar, where the super special stage will be held for a distance of about 3 kilometres, with the rest of the stages to be completed the next day amid strong competition between well-known names, especially the title holder Nasser Al-Attiyah and the ambitious young contestant Abdullah Al-Rawahi.
The first stage of the challenge day on the second day will be the Ar Rusaya stage for a distance of about 15 kilometres, where the first cars will set off there at 9:13, followed by the Rassah stage for 19 kilometers, and the first car will leave there at 9:56, while the morning period will conclude with the third stage on the second day in the Al-uwaynah area for about 14 kilometers at 10:39 in the morning.
The participating cars will then head to the service area near the entertainment centre in Sohar to perform the necessary maintenance, and the participating cars will return to the same morning stages to compete again in Ar Rusaya, Al Rassah and Al uwaynah to record the best and fastest times before the first day concludes with the return of all the participating cars to the start point of the rally in preparation for another long day of competition.
The eighth stage of the rally and the first stage of the second day in the Al-Akeek area, for a distance of about 25 kilometres, which passes through many areas near the track, is expected to witness fierce competition between the competitors in all categories, and then the cars head to complete the penultimate stage in Yanbu for a distance of about 13 kilometres, and the morning period concludes with the passing of the participating cars in the Rahab stage for a distance of about 18 kilometres, so that the participating cars after the end of that stage take their direction towards the service area for periodic maintenance.
The above three stages will be repeated again before the rally ends with the winners of the categories and the champion of the round being crowned at the entertainment centre in Sohar.
The rally is organized by the Oman Automobile Association, headed by Brigadier Jamal Said Al Tai, Chairman of the Association’s Board of Directors, and supervised by Sulaiman Abdullah Al Rawahi, General Manager of the Association, and managed by Anwar Ali Al Zadjali and the administrative operations of Hani Shaaban.
