13-time winner NasserSaleh Al Attiyah tops entries for Jordan Rally

AMMAN —  Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, the most successful driver in the history of Middle East motor sport, tops the entry for next weekend’s Jordan Rally, round two of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship according to the Jordan Motorsport Media Service.

The current series leader and a 13-time winner of the Jordan event heads to the Kingdom fresh from securing a recent narrow victory at the Andalucia Rally in Spain. On this occasion he and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel return to a trusty Volkswagen Polo GTi, run on regional Middle Eastern rallies by Autotek Motorsport.

Of the 13 entrants registered for the FIA category, Attiyah faces competition from three Rally2 drivers. His cousin and former FIA vice-president Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah teams up with Nasser’s former navigator Giovanni Bernacchini to drive a Ford Fiesta and the event sees the return of Hamed Al-Wahaibi (Škoda Fabia) in a two-car team from Oman with young Abdullah Al Rawahi driving another Ford Fiesta.

Six crews have registered to compete in Group NR4 to chase points in the MERC2 category. Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri is the multiple defending champion and starts as the favourite to continue his successes with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. 

Standing in his way will be the Jordanian drivers, Shabi Shaban and Ihab Al Shourafa, Lebanese youngster Alex El Feghali and fellow Lebanese drivers, Ahmed Khaled and Shadi El Fakih.

Henry Kahy returns to try and continue his remarkable run of successes in a two-wheel-drive car in the MERC 3 section. He teams up with Carlos Hanna in his trusty Škoda. Local driver Asem Aref is also entered in a little Renault Clio RS.

Rounding off the entry is the talented Saudi off-road specialist Saleh Al Saif at the wheel of a Can-Am Maverick X3. FIA T4 cars are permitted to tackle gravel rounds of the regional rally series this season and Al-Saif finished sixth overall at the opening round in Qatar and currently leads the championship category. 

Absent from a revised regional rallying calendar in 2020 because of the global Covid-19 situation, this year’s event has been pushed back one week in the calendar by Jordan Motorsport but retains its spot as the second round of the MERC following the postponement of the event in Oman. 

Jordan Motorsport recently released details of the itinerary for the rally that features two legs of six and four gravel stages in the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo areas, which hosted the FIA World Rally Championship on three occasions (2008, 2010 and 2011).

Two loops of three specials make up the itinerary for the opening leg on May 28, with crews set to face the 9.8km of Syagha, a demanding assault on the 34.70km of a brand new Adasiyah special and a run through the 11.34km of a stage near the Baptism Site in a leg comprising 123.02 competitive kilometres. 

The punishing Jordan River stage of 31.01km gets leg two (114.72km) under way and there is no respite for competitors with a pass through the new challenge of Joufeh (26.35km) before the midday regroup and service at the Dead Sea. Both stages are repeated in the afternoon, prior to the podium finish and post-event press conference, scheduled from 5:30pm onwards.

This year’s rally is based at the Crown Plaza Dead Sea Resort and Spa, where all necessary COVID-19 protocols will apply, including proof of negative tests (48-hour validity) before any access is given to the service park area.