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The two-day Qatar International Rally gets underway in Doha on Friday (Jan 27) and kick-starts a new season of the seven-round FIA Middle East Rally Championship.

Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah will be bidding for a 10th successive victory on his home event at the wheel of a Peugeot 207 S2000. The Qatari has won 42 regional championship rallies in his illustrious career and starts as a clear favorite to make it 43 victories when the event concludes on Saturday afternoon. Al-Attiyah's Italian co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini will be aiming to claim his 14th MERC win.

2010 regional champion Misfer Al-Marri is relishing his return to the hot seat after a one-year absence. "To be honest I settled back into the car really well at the test session before the rally," admitted the Qatari, who will be partnered by Italy's Nicola Arena. "The Lancer R4 feels powerful, stable and I am sure it will be competitive. Obviously Nasser will be the man to beat and the new Mini (S2000) looked particularly impressive over jumps on fast terrain when I saw it out testing."

The new Prodrive-built Mini will be in the hands of Qatar's Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, who starts at number three alongside navigator Nasser Al-Kuwari. Qatar's Mubarak Al-Hajri has a natural flair for speed and actually led the Qatar Rally after leg one last year. The Subaru driver is quietly confident that he too can reach the podium with UAE-based co-driver Arif Yousef Mohammed.

Qatar's Jaber Al-Marri and Khalid Al-Suwaidi are seeded at six and seven in their respective Mitsubishi's and will be followed over the start ramp by the Kuwaiti duo of Meshal and Essam Al-Nejadi in a pair of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IXs.

Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah and Lebanese co-driver Ramy Menham will pilot a Subaru Impreza and Kuwait's Fahad Ashkanani rounds off the top 10 starters in his Mitsubishi. Former MERC front-runner Nicholai Georgiou returns to the series and follows Kuwait's Meshari Al-Thafiri over the start ramp in a hired Mitsubishi.

The Jordanian duo of Rasheed Alaa and Hani Al-Bast have entered a pair of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIIIs and the all-female crew of Turkey's Burcu Cetinkaya and Cicek Guney will be locked in their own battle for feminine supremacy with Germany's Edith Weiss and her Greek navigator Vicky Psarali at the rear of the entry list.