About Carl Rizk | Rally Driver from Lebanon

Carl Rizk in his race suit beside the Wardieh rally car

Biography

From karts
to stages

Carl's story starts on the karting track at thirteen. His first championship came in 2016, and four karting titles followed, along with four trips to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals with Team Lebanon: Italy in 2016, Portugal in 2017, Brazil in 2018 and Italy again in 2019. Karting taught him the fundamentals every great driver needs: car control, consistency and the will to win from the first lap to the last.

He drove a rally car for the first time at sixteen and started rallying in 2020, at eighteen. A Suzuki in 2021, then a Lancer Evo VIII in 2022, an Evo IX in 2023 and an Evo X in 2024: each season a step up in machinery, and each one a step closer to the front.

The 2023 Spring Rally was the breakthrough. In the wet, on his first outing in the Evo IX, Carl finished second overall and won Group N. A year later came third overall at the 2024 Spring Rally, again in the rain, and third in the 2024 Lebanese Rally Championship. Three Group N titles, the latest in 2026, the 2025 Junior Cup, four karting championships: nine titles and counting.

Much of that has been done in national-class cars, sharing stages with newer Rally2 machinery, and Carl's stage times regularly sit within seconds of the outright pace. It is why fourth overall and a class win at the 2026 Rally of Lebanon felt less like a surprise and more like the next step. Today, backed by six official partners, he approaches every stage the same way: prepare completely, then go flat out.

Full nameCarl J. Rizk
NationalityLebanese
SeriesRally, Group N
Started kartingAge 13
First rally2020, age 18
Current carMitsubishi Lancer Evo X
Championship titles09
Official partners06
Instagram@carl_rizk

Driving philosophy

Prepare
completely.
Then go
flat out.

Gravel, tarmac, day or night. Every stage is a new problem to solve at full speed. Carl brings the car control of a karting champion and the consistency of a Group N title winner to every run.

The journey

Career
so far

Seven chapters. Nine titles. One direction: forward.

01

Karting years

Carl starts racing in karts at thirteen and wins his first championship in 2016. Four karting titles follow, and four seasons end at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals with Team Lebanon: Italy in 2016, Portugal in 2017, Brazil in 2018 and Italy in 2019.
4× Karting Champion
02

Into rallying

A first taste of a rally car at sixteen, then a full move to the stages in 2020 at eighteen. Carl learns the craft in a Suzuki in 2021 and steps into a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII in 2022.
2020
03

First podium

The 2023 Spring Rally, run in the wet, is the breakthrough: second overall and the Group N win on his very first outing in the Evo IX. Later that season he is third on the opening stage of the Jezzine Rally, twenty seconds off the outright pace.
2nd overall | Spring Rally 2023
04

Championship contender

Now in an Evo X, Carl is third overall at the 2024 Spring Rally, again in the rain, and finishes third in the 2024 Lebanese Rally Championship. At the Rally of Lebanon his stage times sit within a tenth of the fastest cars, and he takes on the Jordan Rally, a round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship, with co-driver Karim Abou Elias.
3rd in the 2024 championship
05

Junior Cup winner

A change of car for 2025: a front-wheel-drive Citroën DS3 in the RC4 class. Carl wins the Junior Cup and, at the Rally of Lebanon, brings the DS3 home sixth overall and first in class, in among the four-wheel-drive cars.
Junior Cup | 2025
06

Rally of Lebanon 2026

Back in the Evo X. At the 48th Rally of Lebanon, a round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship, Carl and Karim Abou Elias finish fourth overall and first in the NAT/NS3 category in front of the home crowd, on the way to a third Group N championship.
4th overall | 2026
07

The next stage

With his partners behind him, Carl targets the top step on every stage ahead.
Today