Trio of WRC2 champions are headed for Qatar International Rally

Both Andreas Mikkelsen and Mads Ostberg are heading to the second round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), as is fellow Scandinavian Emil Lindholm.

All three WRC2 champions are set to take part in identical Skoda Fabia Rally evo superminis run by Sports Racing Technologies.

Ostberg, 35, returns for a second consecutive year, hoping to right the wrong of 12 months ago when he retired while leading the event from former Citroen Racing team-mate, Kris Meeke.

Mikkelsen and Lindholm, meanwhile, are making their debuts in the Middle East but given their experience – and success – of driving on the loose, they will be expected to challenge for honours.

However, if any of the three hope to finish on the top step of the podium they will have to overcome the challenge of Nasser Al-Attiyah who has won his home round of the competition for the past three years.

In all, the Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 pilot has chalked up 16 victories in his own back yard and will be the favourite to make it win number seventeen as he starts the opening day from second on the road having missed out to Abdullah Al-Rawahi at the season opener in Oman last month.

“We are delighted to announce a formidable entry for Qatar’s round of the regional rally championship,” said the QMMF’s Executive Director, Amro Al-Hamad.

“This is the third year we have attracted some top names from the WRC and we have a record nine Rally2 cars in the field, including five drivers from Qatar.

“We have two winners of WRC rallies, the last three WRC2 winners, our five-time Dakar Rally winner and four drivers who have previously won rounds of the MERC,” he added.

The event begins next Thursday evening at Lusail with a spectator special before the action moves out to the neighbouring countryside on Friday and Saturday when a further 12 timed tests awaiting crews.