Jordan Rally preparations ‘exceptional’

AMMAN — “Exceptional” preparation efforts are taken place for the 34th edition of the Jordan Rally, the third round of the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), which is taking place May 5-7.

With Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah seeking his 10th victory in the Jordan Rally, after securing his sixth title in Kuwait Rally, the event promises an exceptional challenging environment according to Othman Nassif, CEO of Jordan Motorsport.

“We are working around-the-clock to make sure that everything is going to be well organised and without any surprises. So far the list of names is impressive and with Attiyah winning in Kuwait and putting all his focus on winning the Jordan Rally we are sure that the event will be exceptional,” he told The Jordan Times.

Attiyah is currently leading the MERC standings with 78 points followed by Qatar’s Khalid Al Suwaidi (40 points) and Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri (30 points).

“Attiyah has secured a huge points difference from other competitors, but still this is rallying and anything can happen to change the overall results,” he added.

And regarding the challenges of hosting such an event.

“We always face huge challenges especially to the route as the rain played a big part in damaging it which we are fixing with the help of several government entities, whose help we are thankful for,” he said.

Jordanian participation at the Jordan Rally will be headed by veteran driver Husam Salem who has five points in the standings.

“Jordanian drivers will have the chance to train for the Jordan Rally when they take part in first round of the Jordan Rally Championship “Samarah Rally” which will be held April 1st as this event will be considered as the final rehearsal before the big event in May,” he said.

“Samarah Rally will consist of six special stages (Panorama 1 and 2, Seyagha 1 and 2, Rama 1 and 2 with a total distance of 180.18km while the total distance of the special stages is 70km. We hope to see many Jordanian drivers taking part in the event,” he added.

Salem, who will be putting a lot of weight to the Group N competition at the Jordan Rally, told The Jordan Times that this year’s event is special and very challenging.

“We are looking forward to participating in the Jordan Rally and competing for the Group N leadership and although this group will have a lot of professional drivers from the Gulf region I believe we have a good chance to make something tangible,” he said.

The unlucky Jordanian driver faced some mechanical issues to his Mitsubishi Evo 9 in Qatar which he hopes he will not face in May.

“We did well in the first day in Qatar but in the second day the steering column broke and we had to retire. We hope we will not face any issues in the Jordan Rally and sail smoothly to the podium,” he added.

Salem, who will not take part in the Samarah Rally, said all his focus will be on the MERC championship.

“We are focusing on the MERC more this season and hopefully after the Jordan Rally we will be able to take part in other rounds of the MERC,” he said.

Standings

Middle East Rally Championship – drivers’ positions after round 2

Name (Country)Points

Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT)78

Khalid Al Suwaidi (QAT)40

Meshari Al Thefiri (KWT)30

Rashed Al Nuami (QAT) 29

Rodolphe Asmar (LEB)28

Abdullah Al Kuwari (QAT)25

Yigit Timut (TUR)23

Khalifa Al Attiyah (QAT)19