The Qatari guided his Autotek Motorsport Škoda Fabia RS to six wins on the 11 gravel special stages (SS7 was cancelled) but was pushed hard for outright victory until the final metres of the Power Stage by Simos Galatariotis and Antonios Ioannou in their Škoda Fabia RS. Al-Attiyah’s winning margin was just 4.63 seconds after just short of three hours of racing on the three-day finale to the MERC.

The win earned Al-Attiyah a record-breaking 21st regional rally title since 2003 and a 93rd success on a round of the MERC. The Qatari also added to his unrivalled historic success in Cyprus, while co-driver Carrera won his second title and his eighth MERC rally.

Al-Attiyah said: “This is always a difficult rally and this year was no exception. The stages are very demanding but we managed to overcome the punctures and find a way to win the title. I am very happy. This championship is important to me and it’s a fantastic feeling to win it yet again.”

The Cypriot crew of Michalis Posedias and Pambos Laos delivered an impressive performance in their little Rally 3-winning Renault Clio to snatch the unlikely final place on the overall podium.

They finished over half a minute ahead of the Hyundai i20 R5 Rally 2 pairing of Panayiotis Yiangou and Aristos Nicolaou. Hüseyin Şüküroğlu and Kemal Topçuoğlu rounded off the top five in a Volkswagen Polo GTI.

Behind sixth-placed Costas Zenonos and Phanos Christophi in their Ford Fiesta, Jameel Motorsport’s Hamza Bakhashab and Joseph Matar recovered strongly from a sixth-stage accident to earn seventh position. That gave them points for second place in the MERC standings and ensured that Bakhashab finished as runner-up to Al-Attiyah in the Drivers’ Championship.

Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya and Ziad Chehab also left the road on day one but the Motortune team rebuilt their damaged Ford Fiesta Rally 2 and the Qatari veteran was able to finish the event in 10th place, pick up points for third in the MERC and confirm a similar finish in the Drivers’ Championship.

Former regional champion Abdullah Al-Rawahi held third overall for long periods with stand-in Romanian co-driver Sergiu Itu, but retired his Oman Rally Team Škoda Fabia on stage 10.

Costas Laos and Michalis Stylianou were registered for the MERC and finished 11th in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, one place ahead of Dimitris Parellis and Andreas Papandreou in an Opel Corsa Rally 4.

Jordan’s Shaker Jweihan and Mustafa Juma brought up the rear of the field in 13th place after first-stage mechanical problems but did enough to see off the absent Zakariya Al-Aamri and Mohamed Al-Mazrui to clinch FIA MERC2 honours.

A close family illness prevented Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud from travelling to Cyprus and his place alongside Al-Rawahi was taken by Sergiu Itu.

Shipping issues meant that Bakhashab was forced to replace his usual Toyota GR Yaris with a Škoda Fabia and neither Lebanon’s Ahmad Khaled nor Oman’s Zakariya Al-Aamri made the starting list. The latter’s non-appearance threw the door wide open for Jweihan to press on for the FIA MERC2 title.

Seventeen crews, therefore, made the start with eight chasing MERC points. Al-Attiyah topped Friday morning’s qualifying with a time of 2min 11.106sec and won the session by 4.297 seconds from Galatariotis.

Al-Attiyah drew first blood through the opening 14.42km Ayios Epifanios stage and edged into a lead of 26.10 seconds over Galatariotis. The Cypriot hit back on the second one and reduced the deficit by 3.63 seconds, as Al-Rawahi and Bakhashab settled into third and seventh overall. Al-Atya’s slim title challenge unravelled when he crashed and inflicted heavy damage to the front of his Ford Fiesta.

The battle between the ‘showroom’ specification Mitsubishis took an unexpected turn when both title contender Jweihan and local driver Costas Laos retired on the opening stage. Constantinos Sioferos also withdrew and retired on the first loop.

Al-Attiyah was fastest again on the first pass through Kourdali and had increased his lead to 30.86 seconds on the return to Nicosia for service. Galatariotis continued to hold second from Al-Rawahi and Posedias. Bakhashab was seventh.

Al-Attiyah shaved 13 seconds off his morning’s time on the re-run of Ayios Epifanios and another dominant time in Kapouras 2 enabled the Qatari to reach the start of the sixth stage with a lead of 53.16 seconds. But the narrow and twisty rocky tracks in the Troodos mountains have a habit of biting back and both the Qatari and closest rival Galatariotis sustained flat tyres.

Al-Rawahi was the main beneficiary and the Omani earned the stage win. The time delays meant that Al-Attiyah retained the overall lead but saw his advantage over Galatariotis trimmed to 53.02 seconds at the night halt. Bakhashab left the road in the stage but, such had been the rate of attrition during the day, he only slipped a place to eighth when time penalties were imposed.

Spectator indiscipline forced officials at the Cyprus Automobile Association to cancel the first pass through Doryforikos on Sunday morning. But Al-Attiyah was back into winning ways through Vavatsinia 1 and increased his lead to 1min 07.62sec. The Qatari ceded 1.58 seconds to Galatariotis through Stavrovouni 1 but remained on course for victory and yet another regional rally title on the return to Nicosia for a regroup and service.

Al-Attiyah said: “Leading from the start with three stages to go. I am very happy. The afternoon will be very tough with loose gravel and a lot of stones but we try to be clever.”

Al-Rawahi and Bakhashab retained third and eighth but Zacharias Manoli retired his registered Peugeot 208 R2 from ninth place on stage eight.

Another puncture cost Al-Attiyah around half a minute on SS10 and the Qatari saw his lead reduced to 38.78 seconds by the stage-winning Galatariotis. Zenonos and Bakhashab were second and third quickest but Al-Rawahi’s dream of winning the MERC Drivers’ title for a second time ended with damaged front-right suspension on his Škoda Fabia.

The Cypriot stages continued to offer their own unique challenges and another delay of over 45 seconds with a third flat tyre for Al-Attiyah on SS11 enabled Galatariotis to claim another stage win and an outright lead of 3.64 seconds to take to the Power Stage finale at Stavrovouni.

Al-Attiyah carded the target time of 9min 22.3sec and it was enough to beat Galatariotis by 8.27 seconds to confirm a narrow 4.63-second victory in Cyprus and a 21st regional rally title.

2026 Cyprus Rally – final result:

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2                    2hr 50min 47.25sec*

2. Simos Galatariotis (CYP)/Antonios Ioannou (CYP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2                            2hr 50min 51.88sec

3. Michalis Posedias (CYP)/Pambos Laos (CYP) Renault Clio Rally 3                                           3hr 01min 13.06sec

4. Panayiotis Yiangou (CYP)/Aristos Nicolaou (CYP) Hyundai i20 R5 Rally 2                             3hr 01min 48.72sec

5. Hüseyin Şüküroğlu (CYP)/Kemal Topçuoğlu (CYP) Volkswagen Polo GTI Rally 2                 3hr 03min 54.53sec

6. Costas Zenonos (CYP)/Phanos Christophi (CYP) Ford Fiesta Rally 3                                       3hr 07min 34.58sec

7. Hamza Bakhashab (KSA)/Joseph Matar (LBN) Toyota Yaris GR Rally 2                                 3hr 09min 14.73sec*

8. Yiangos Yiangou (CYP)/Pavlos Egglezou (CYP) Renault Clio Rally 3                                        3hr 19min 34.47sec

9. Prodromos Prodromou (CYP)/Charis Episkopou (CYP) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                 3hr 45min 45.66sec

10. Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2                   3hr 56min 17.22sec*

11. Costas Laos (CYP)/Michalis Stylianou (CYP) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX                                 4hr 13min 50.80sec*

12. Dimitris Parellis (CYP)/Andreas Papandreou (CYP) Opel Corsa Rally 4                                4hr 19min 08.53sec*

13. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Mustafa Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                  4hr 19min 08.71sec*

Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Sergiu Itu (ROU) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2                                        RETIRED – SS10*

Zacharias Manoli (CYP)/Petros Laos (CYP) Peugeot 208 R2                                                         RETIRED – SS8*

Floros Stylianou (CYP)/Aggelos Makrides (CYP) Ford Fiesta Rally 4                                           RETIRED – after SS6

Constantinos Sioferos (CYP)/Stelios Elia (CYP) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                    RETIRED – SS1

*denotes registered for MERC