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LOS ANGELES — Devin Booker scored 30 points as the Phoenix Suns left LeBron James and the depleted Los Angeles Lakers facing elimination from the NBA play-offs on Tuesday with a crushing 115-85 victory.

Phoenix took full advantage of the injury absence of the Lakers’ Anthony Davis to dominate the defending NBA champions from early in the first quarter before romping to a comfortable win.

The Suns victory leaves Phoenix 3-2 ahead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first round series, meaning the Lakers must win in Los Angeles in game six on Thursday to keep their season alive.

Even with a win on Thursday, the Lakers would face a trip back to Arizona for a decisive game seven, an assignment that looks even more daunting after Tuesday’s blowout loss.

“I feel like every game in this series, the next game is the biggest game,” Booker said afterwards. 

“I think this was a real pivotal game for us. We wanted to protect home court and we came in here and showed that.”

The Lakers took a 10-5 lead early in the first quarter, but trailed for the remainder of the contest, with Phoenix turning the screw with a dominant 21-2 run to start the second quarter.

Phoenix led by 36 points in the third and a disconsolate James left the court well before the end of a grim night for the Lakers.

James led the Los Angeles scoring with 24 points, with Kyle Kuzma adding 15 from the bench. No other Lakers player made double figures.

“We got our ass kicked — it’s that simple,” James said afterwards. 

“We’ve got to be better if we want to force a game seven. 

“A lot to cover and see what we can do better in game six, but they pretty much just kicked our ass, there’s nothing else really to say.”

Lillard gem in vain

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Damian Lillard produced a record-breaking 55-point display but it was not enough to prevent the Portland Trail Blazers from slipping to a 147-140 double overtime defeat to the Denver Nuggets.

Blazers talisman Lillard once again lived up to his reputation as a supreme clutch competitor, single-handedly keeping the Blazers alive with a string of crucial three-pointers.

The game five defeat leaves Denver 3-2 ahead in the best-of-seven playoff series.

Lillard’s final points tally included 12 threes, a record for the NBA playoffs and only two behind the all-time record of 14 in a game held by Klay Thompson.

The 30-year-old Portland star forced overtime with just 3.7 seconds remaining, draining a 27-footer to make it 121-121.

Lillard struck again at the end of overtime with a 26-foot three-pointer to make it 135-135.

His final points of the night came with a 30-foot three-pointer that put Portland 140-138 ahead in double overtime, but a costly late blunder by C.J. McCollum — stepping out of bounds — allowed Denver to snatch victory.

Lillard declined to dwell on his dazzling performance following Portland’s loss.

“It don’t matter, we lost the game,” Lillard said. “At this point all that matters is that we can’t lose another game in this series.”

Nets advance

Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets scorers with 38 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, while Monte Morris added 28 points. Michael Porter Jr. finished with 26 points.

In Tuesday’s other game, James Harden scored a 34-point triple-double as the Brooklyn Nets advanced to a series against the Milwaukee Bucks with a 123-109 win over the Boston Celtics.

An impressive showing from Brooklyn’s “Big Three” saw Harden add 10 rebounds and 10 assists while Kyrie Irving (25 points) and Kevin Durant (24 points) also weighed in with big contributions as the Nets completed a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven series.

“We’ve dealt with so much adversity through the regular season, it felt good to get some meaningful games in,” Harden said. “It’s time to lock in now.”

“They’re a tough Boston team. They were down a few players. But they kept fighting and fighting and made it tough for us.

“We’re a special group, especially when we lock in defensively. If we can get three or four stops in a row — we can get it going offensively because we’ve got that much firepower.”

Madrid — Carlo Ancelotti has rejoined Real Madrid as coach for the next three seasons, the Spanish club said on Tuesday.

“Hello Madrid!” the 61-year-old Italian who succeeds Zinedine Zidane posted on Twitter.

Ancelotti, who won the Champions League for Real Madrid during his first spell at the club between 2013 and 2015, will sign his contract and be presented to the media on Wednesday, the club said in a statement.

It took less than a week for Real Madrid to turn the page on Zidane, who ended his less succesful second spell as coach, last Thursday, criticising the lack of confidence shown in him by the club hierarchy. 

Instead, Ancelotti is about to be reunited with the club President Florentino Perez who ruthlessly ousted the coach in 2015, just one year after he led the club to a 10th Champions League title, the long-awaited Decima.

Ancelotti was under contract until 2024 with Everton, but the Italian, whose wife is of Spanish origin has always said he enjoys life in Madrid. 

His return is a gesture of appeasement sent to the club’s stars. 

The heavyweights of the dressing room will welcome a coach adept, like his former protege Zidane, at benevolent and protective management, rather than the more driven approach of Antonio Conte, another Italian contender for the position. 

In his first spell at Real, Ancelotti left a favourable impression on fans and players, including Karim Benzema, Raphael Varane, Marcelo and Casemiro, who are still at the club. 

He will also be reunited with Austrian defender David Alaba, who played for Ancelotti at Bayern Munich, and is joining Real on a five-year contract.

Ancelotti made history in his first spell at Real by winning the Champions League, after a 12-year gap.

Real trailed neighbours Atletico Madrid going into added time, but Sergio Ramos levelled in the 93rd minute. Then Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo, with a 120th minute penalty, scored for a 4-1 victory.

Ancelotti also won the Spanish Cup, the European Supercup and the World Club Championship at Real. 

But the support of his dressing room was not enough to save Ancelotti when he failed to win another trophy after collecting the World Club Cup in December.

A poll at the time of his departure by Spanish sports daily Marca, which has close to links to the club, found that 73 per cent of club members were in favour of keeping the Italian. 

‘Reigned supreme’

On Tuesday, the club recalled his first stint in charge as a golden era.

“Under Ancelotti’s stewardship, the team reigned supreme in Europe 12 years on from the last continental triumph following an unforgettable win over Atletico in the Lisbon showpiece,” said the club on its web site, adding: “He is the Real Madrid coach to have recorded the most wins [78] in his first 100 competitive games at the helm.” 

Real missed the Spanish title last season by just two points and reached the last four in the Champions League, but failed to win a trophy.

Ancelotti will have to rebuild the squad in difficult circumstances. 

Real are struggling financially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and are consumed by the costly renovation of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Real also still face the possible consequences of their refusal to renounce the Super League, which offered the vision of an instant solution to their money problems.

Ancelotti, who joined Everton in December 2019, thanked the English club and its fans “for the tremendous support they have all given me”.

“While I have enjoyed being at Everton I have been presented with an unexpected opportunity which I believe is the right move for me and my family at this time,” he added in a statement published on Everton’s website.

Everton said they would “begin the process of appointing a new manager immediately and will provide updates in due course”.

Barcelona — Sergio Aguero said on Monday that he was hoping to have the “pleasure” of playing alongside Lionel Messi after signing a two-year deal with Barcelona.

Aguero will become a Barca player once his contract with Manchester City expires at the end of June, bringing an end to a decade at the Premier League champions, and his new team have slapped a 100-million-euro ($122 million) buy-out clause on the 32-year-old.

However he is still not sure that Messi will be his teammate next season as the club captain is yet to sign an extension to his current contract which expires next month.

“Let’s hope we play together... what happens with Leo is down to decisions that he will make with the club,” Aguero told reporters at the Camp Nou after he was unveiled on the famous pitch.

“Obviously it will be a pleasure if we play together. If he continues here, which I think he will, we will try to do our best for the club as he always has done.”

Barca will hope Aguero’s arrival in Catalonia helps to convince his friend and fellow Argentine Messi to stay, as the club faces up to declining performances on the pitch and a worrying financial situation.

Ronald Koeman’s side finished third in La Liga this past season and have debts of 1.2 billion euros ($1.46 billion). 

They were knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage by Paris Saint-Germain, and could yet face sanctions from UEFA for refusing to back out of the short-lived European Super League project.

Last week club president Joan Laporta said that talks for Messi’s new contract were “going well”, and on Monday insisted that Aguero’s signing was part of a broader Barca rebuild.

“The signing of Aguero is for Aguero. We want to build a competitive team and obviously we also want Leo to stay, we have already told him this,” Laporta said.

Aguero’s signing for Barca comes two days after he missed out on winning the Champions League with City, Pep Guardiola’s side losing this season’s final to Chelsea at the end of a season disrupted by injury.

His final appearance for City was as a substitute for Raheem Sterling late in the final in Porto as the newly-crowned Premier League champions tried in vain to win Europe’s top prize for the first time.

He leaves City as their all-time record goalscorer with 260 goals, and with the most goals scored for a single club in Premier League history — 184 goals in 275 appearances.

“Leaving aside last season, I had nine very good years at City,” said Aguero.

“A knee issue kept me out for a few months, I recovered, I got Covid ... but in the last four months I’ve felt very good physically.”

His move to Barcelona had been long in the offing, with Guardiola saying a week ago that he was close to a deal with the Catalan giants.

He will participate in this year’s Copa America, which on Monday was moved from Colombia and his home country Argentina to Brazil.

“If they have made that decision it is because things are not going well in Argentina, there have been a lot of infections over the last few days and many deaths. I think it was a good decision,” said Aguero.

MADRID — Zinedine Zidane resigned as Real Madrid coach because he felt the Spanish club no longer had any confidence in him, he wrote in an open letter on Monday.

“I’m leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need, and doesn’t offer me the support to build something in the medium or long term,” the Frenchman wrote in the letter published in the sports daily AS.

“I am a born winner and I was here to win trophies, but beyond this there are human beings, emotions, life and I have the feeling that these things have not been valued, that it has not been understood that this is also how the dynamic of a great club is maintained,” he said.

“But everything I built on a daily basis, what I brought to the relationship with the players... has been forgotten.” 

“I’m leaving, but I’m not jumping ship and I’m not tired of coaching,” he added.

Real had a disappointing season, finishing second in La Liga behind neighbours Atletico Madrid and losing to eventual winners Chelsea in the Champions League semifinals.

It was the first time that the 13-time European champions had failed to win a trophy in 11 seasons.

It is the second time that Zidane has resigned as Real Madrid coach.

The 1998 World Cup winner first took the helm in January 2016 and guided Real an unprecedented hat-trick of Champions League titles as well as a La Liga title in 2017, before abruptly quitting on May 31, 2018.

Less than a year later he returned after Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari were sacked in quick succession.

‘Hurt me’

In his letter, Zidane said he left the club in 2018 because it needed “a different voice to keep itself at the very top” but this time “things are different”.

“I want what we have achieved together to be respected. I would have liked in recent months my relationship with the club and with the president [Florentino Perez] to have been a little different from that of other coaches,” Zidane said.

“I wasn’t asking for privileges, of course not, but a little more memory,” added Zidane.

“It hurt me a great deal when I would read in the press, after a loss, that they were going to fire me if I did not win the next match.

“It hurt me and the entire team because these messages which were intentionally leaked to the media created negative interferences with the squad, they created doubts and misunderstandings.”

Zidane’s contract with Real was set to expire in 2022 but he had repeatedly refused to confirm he would still be at the club next season.

‘Always be grateful’

He has a history of making surprise announcements: as a player, he initially announced his retirement from international football in 2004 before coming back for the 2006 World Cup, after which he retired for good following his red card for headbutting Italy’s Marco Materazzi as France lost the final. 

“Spending 20 years in Madrid has been the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me in life and I know that I owe it exclusively to Florentino Perez who bet on me in 2001,” Zidane said in the letter.

“I say it from the heart, I will always be grateful to the ‘presi’ for it. Always,” he added.

Zidane also had a message to Real fans, saying he wanted them to know that “we gave 100 per cent”.

Zidane’s resignation roiled an already turbulent coaching picture at the continent’s elite clubs.

One of Zidane’s former clubs, Juventus, has replaced Andrea Pirlo with Massimiliano Allegri. Antonio Conte, a former teammate of Zidane’s at Juventus, quit Inter Milan after leading them to the Serie A title.

Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have replaced Hansi Flick with Julian Nagelsmann. There is doubt about the future of Ronald Koeman who became coach at Barcelona last August, while Mauricio Pochettino, who took over at Paris Saint-Germain in January, is reportedly being courted by former employer Tottenham Hotspur and has also been linked with Madrid.

PORTO, Portuga — Five months after being sacked by Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel lifted the Champions League as he got the better of Pep Guardiola once more to keep Manchester City waiting for European glory.

A 1-0 victory in Porto rounded off a rollercoaster year for the German, who was handed the chance to revive Chelsea’s fortunes less than a month after losing his job in Paris.

Chelsea were ninth in the Premier League table at the time with owner Roman Abramovich seeing little return on his £220 million ($312 million) outlay on new players under Frank Lampard.

In fact, Tuchel had never met the Russian billionaire in person until they crossed paths on the pitch at the Estadio do Dragao as the wild celebrations went on around them.

“Maybe I have a new contract now with that win,” said Tuchel, who was only handed an 18-month deal when he signed on at Stamford Bridge.

“I spoke to Roman just now and it was the best moment for the first meeting, or maybe the worst moment. Maybe it can only get worse now!”

Kai Havertz was the most expensive purchase of that summer splurge after his £71 million move from Bayer Leverkusen.

Getting the best out of Havertz was one of Tuchel’s major tasks and the 21-year-old German came good on the biggest stage of all with the only goal three minutes before half-time.

Unlike Guardiola, Tuchel did not have a glittering playing career. A series of knee injuries forced him to retire at 25 and take up a job as a waiter, while he began his coaching career in the youth ranks of Stuttgart.

From afar he watched and was inspired as Guardiola won 14 trophies in four years at Barcelona before joining him in Germany where they battled for Bundesliga supremacy in charge of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

During their first meeting, the two football obsessives talked long into the night using glasses and salt and pepper shakers to mimic formations.

“I was such a huge admirer of Pep when he was a player and then when he became a coach it was like learning on the job for me,” Tuchel said this week.

“I was an academy coach and then in the Bundesliga with Mainz, but I don’t think I missed a game because there was so much to learn.”

Tuchel did not win any of the first five clashes between the pair during his time at Mainz and Dortmund against Guardiola’s dominant Bayern side.

But the pupil has now outfoxed the master three times in the past six weeks as Chelsea completed a treble of victories over the English champions after wins in the FA Cup semi-final and Premier League.

Tactical battle

Guardiola spoke glowingly ahead of the game on how Tuchel’s switch to a 3-4-3 formation had transformed Chelsea’s season and denied City’s abundance of creative midfielders space between the lines in their two previous meetings.

That allowed Tuchel to arguably win the tactical battle before a ball had even been kicked.

Often accused of overly tinkering with his line-ups when the pressure is ramped up in the final stages of the Champions League, Guardiola’s bold call to start without a recognised holding midfielder backfired.

Tuchel was dismissed by PSG despite leading the French giants to their own first Champions League final in August.

That time he had to suffer the pain of a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, but his desire not to leave Portugal empty-handed again was in evidence as he prowled the touchline, constantly cajoling his players and whipping up the Chelsea fans into a frenzy.

The travelling support from London were among a 14,000 crowd that contributed hugely to the spectacle after almost a full season of European football behind closed doors.

Chelsea fans showed they have not forgotten the club’s all-time record goalscorer with cries of “super Frank” in honour of Lampard’s part in getting the Blues into the top four last season to qualify for this competition, and then through the group stages before his dismissal.

But this was Tuchel’s triumph and he wants more.

“Nobody wants to rest, I want the next one, the next title,” he added. “I want to be a part of it and I demand to be a part of it.”

AMMAN — Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah completely dominated the 2021 Jordan Rally to confirm an historic 14th victory on the event by the winning margin of 17min04.8sec on Saturday.

The Volkswagen Polo GTi driver and his Andorra-based co-driver Matthieu Baumel won each of the 10 special stages in the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo areas to extend their leads in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC). Attiyah is bidding for a record-breaking 17th regional title this year, as he secured a 78th career MERC event win and Baumel sealed personal win number 27.

Attiyah said: “This is a good feeling. A good day. It was a nice rally for us. A win again, 14 times in Jordan, and we have a good lead in the Middle East Championship. The next step will be Lebanon Rally and we try to defend our title.” 

Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri began the day with a 40.8-second cushion at the head of the MERC2 category and the second-placed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X driver confirmed another ‘showroom’ class success after nearest rival Alex Feghali opted to drive cautiously over the final day to conserve a first ever podium place on an MERC rally.

“All is good and thank god we passed all the stages and made it to the end,” said Feghali. “This is the first time we finished this rally and I am on the podium, so that is amazing.”

Shadi Sheban missed out on a second Jordan National Rally victory to a resurgent Khaled Juma, but had the consolation of finishing a career-best fourth in the FIA event and being the first Jordanian home. He also takes an early lead in the National Championship following a win and a second place over the two days.  

A flat tyre and front differential issues cost Lebanon’s Shadi El Fakih a lot of time on the opening two stages of the final day and he slipped into the clutches of Qatar’s Nasser Khalifa Al Atya after incurring time penalties for leaving service late and then going OTL in stage nine. Atya duly claimed fifth overall with Italian navigator Giovanni Bernacchini.

Saudi Arabia’s Saleh Al Saif restarted under Rally2 after his accident and drive shaft woes on Friday and the Can-Am Maverick X3 driver climbed back to sixth place. That pushed local driver Ihab Al Shorafa down to seventh and MERC3 category winner Asem Aref into eighth. 

Defending two-wheel drive champion Henry Kahy also restarted under Rally2 and rounded off the finishers in ninth overall. 

Attiyah dominated the first runs through the 31.57km of the Jordan River stage and the insipid heat of Joufeh (26.01km) to extend his massive lead to 12min02.5sec. 

“We like these two stages. They are long and the organisation make a good, good job,” said Attiyah. “The second one was the opposite of yesterday. We see all the machines [regrading] on the stages. It was a great job by the organisation. The car is working well. Two stages to go...”

Feghali had vowed to attack Thefiri on the second day and try to make in-roads into the Kuwaiti’s 40.8-second hold on the MERC2 lead and second place. But the Lebanese took it easy instead and ceded 32.5 seconds to the defending champion in the opener and a further 13 in the second one to trail by 1min 26.5sec on the return to the Dead Sea service park.

“Now we are just cruising through to secure third position,” admitted Feghali. “We are not trying to catch Meshari and gain experience for the next events. First rally, first podium, would be amazing.”

After suffering from the heat and two flat tyres on day one, Atya settled into the groove to record two fourth fastest times to close in on Fakih’s hold on fifth behind Shaban, who had a problem with water getting into the engine from under the sump guard. 

Fakih sustained a flat tyre 16km into the first test of the morning and drove on the rim to the finish before changing the wheel and suffering front differential issues in the second one. 

A disgruntled Atya said: “We push in the first stage and catch Shadi [Fakih] in the middle of the stage. In the dust we went into the grass off the road. We lost maybe half a minute and we reversed and then we catch again and lose maybe a minute more in the dust. But we managed to pass him before the end of the stage and then caught him again in the second one...”

After restarting under the Rally2 regulation, Saif was back into a quick pace and moved up to seventh overall at the expense of Shorafa and Aref. Kahy also restarted under Rally2 at the rear of the field, but engine damage had forced the permanent retirements of Ahmad Khaled and Abdullah Al Rawahi on Friday. 

Khaled Juma held a 3min 16.9sec lead over Shaban on the second round of the Jordan National Rally Championship. 

A cautious Attiyah was 1.4 seconds slower than his first pass on the re-run of Jordan River, while Fakih’s morning differential woes proved costly and the Lebanese incurred time penalties for starting the second loop late. That time loss pushed him behind Atya and into sixth before he eventually retired in stage nine. 

Attiyah managed his pace through the final stage to secure a clean sweep of 10 stage wins and seal a 14th outright success in the Kingdom. Thefiri held on to secure second and first in MERC2 over the slippery second loop, the Kuwaiti completing the stages 2min 25.8sec in front of Feghali.

Khaled Juma prevailed on the second round of the National Championship, as a cautious Shaban finished the FIA event as the leading Jordanian. Amjad Al Anasweh rounded off the podium finishers on the second round of the national series. 

The 2021 FIA Middle East Rally Championship resumes with the Rally of Lebanon on September 3-5.

AMMAN — Jordan’s Salt have advanced to the semifinals of the West Asia Zone after taking second spot in Group B of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup matches which ended in Amman on the weekend.

The top team in each of the zone’s three groups alongside the best second placed team moved on to the zonal semifinals before teams play the advanced inter zonal knockout stages and final of the second-tier Asian club competition.

Group B saw 2008 champions Bahrain’s Muharraq and Salt tie in overall points however, the Bahraini team took the group led on head-to-head points over Salt whom they beat 1-0.

Salt, who played their inaugural AFC Cup, took second spot after beating Palestine’s Balata 5-0 and Lebanon’s Ansar 2-1. Balata scored the upset result of the group when they beat Muharraq 3-2.

Group C hosts Jordan’s Faisali were knocked out of the event after they lost 1-0 to three-time champs Kuwait Club, 1-0 to Syria’s Tishreen and beat Palestine’s Ama’ri 2-0. Tishreen held Kuwait 3-3 and beat Ama’ri 5-1 to finish third in the group.

Reigning AFC Cup titleholders, Lebanon’s Al -Ahed qualified from Group A ahead of Syria’s Wahda and Bahrain’s Al Hidd in matches played in Manama. 

The zonal semifinals will be played in September when Salt play Kuwait FC and Al Ahed face Muharraq.

In the 2020 AFC Cup, Faisali played alongside Jazira before the tournament was scrapped with the COVID-19 pandemic halting regional and international sporting agendas. 

Kuwait Club and the Iraqi Air Force Club are AFC Cup record winners having been crowned champs three times each. Faisali won the AFC Cup title in in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun won in 2007. Other Jordanian teams participating in previous editions include Wihdat, Ramtha, Hussein, That Ras and Ahli. 

The 2021 AFC Cup is the 18th edition of the tournament. The winners will automatically qualify to the 2022 AFC Champions League, and will enter the qualifying play-offs if they have not qualified through their domestic performance. 

Earlier this month, Wihdat played the continent’s leading tournament — the AFC Champions League but were eliminated in the group stages after an impressive performance alongside Saudi Arabia’s Nassr, Iran’s Foolad and Qatar’s Al Sadd to finish 3rd in Group D. Group leaders and top three second place finishers moved on to the knockout stage.

Wihdat became the first of the Kingdom’s clubs to play in the round robin group stages of the AFC Champions League. None of the Kingdom’s clubs have ever made it past the AFC Champions League preliminary round where Faisali played in 2020 and 2018, Wihdat in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, and Shabab Urdun in 2014.

AMMAN — The 2021 Jordan Rally got under way on the shores of the Dead Sea on Thursday afternoon, according to the Jordan Motorsport Media Service.

Twelve cars and competitors from eight nations will now tackle 10 demanding gravel stages on Friday and Saturday in the Dead Sea, Mount Nebo and Jordan River areas close to the lowest geographical point on earth. 

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah will be hoping his extend his eight-point lead in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship in the absence of closest rivals, Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Khalid Al Suwaidi, who pushed him hard at the opening round in Qatar at the end of January.

On this occasion the 13-time winner of the Jordan Rally faces competition from former QMMF president Nasser Khalifa Al Atya and Oman Rally Team driver Abdullah Al Rawahi. 

Hamed Al Wahaibi had been relishing his return to the international arena after a nine-year absence, but the Omani suffered a shock crash while testing tyres on Thursday morning and was not able to make the ceremonial start after damaging his Škoda Fabia. 

Wahaibi said: “I lost a bit of concentration while testing tyres. I just ran a bit wide out of a corner and went into a small ditch. The car went end-over-end about five times. Ilka [Minor] and I are both okay. The car proved its strength. I was so happy to be here and back in rallying. 

“We will be in Rally Lebanon, for sure. Thanks to the organisers for all their support. The welcome has been great, fans, competitors and my friend Nasser [Al Attiyah] was so supportive. Now I wish my teammate Abdullah Al Rawahi all the best for the coming two days.”

Meshari Al Thefiri has won the last three MERC2 championships in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X and the Kuwaiti takes a nine-point advantage in the secondary ‘showroom’ category into the opening stages on Friday. 

His two closest rivals, Rashid Al Mohannadi and Zakariya Al Ofi, have not made the trip to the Hashemite Kingdom but local drivers Shabi Shaban and Ihab Al Shourafa and the Lebanese trio of Alex El Feghali, Ahmed Khaled and Shadi El Fakih will be hoping to push him all the way.

Lebanon’s defending champion Henry Kahy faces local driver Asem Aref in the MERC3 section for two-wheel drive cars and Saudi Arabia’s Saleh Al Saif rounds off the starting line-up in a T4 Can-Am Maverick X3. 

On Friday crews tackle two loops of three special stages, starting with a run through the 9.8km of Syagha from 9:19am. The brand new challenge of Adasiyah (34.70km) follows at 9:58am and the loop is completed with a blast through the 11.34km of the Baptism Site special from 11:17am.

After a return to the Dead Sea Service Park for a mid-leg regroup and chance to refettle the cars, the loop of three speed tests are repeated at 12:58pm, 13:37pm and 14.56pm, respectively.

Support for the event comes from Zain Jordan, Guarantee Travel Group and Nestlé Waters Jordan.