Jordan Rally revs up

AMMAN — Jordan Rally, the first round of the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) kicks off on Thursday with an exciting super special stage at the shores of the Dead Sea as the roaring engines of 10 drivers from Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, France, Czech Republic and Jordan challenge one of the toughest rounds in the MERC.

The 36th edition of the Jordan Rally, April 26th –28th, will witness the serious attempts of Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah to match the former rally driver Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the current FIA vice president for sport in the Middle East and North Africa regions record for the most number of MERC wins in Jordan which reached 12 wins.

Othman Naseef, Jordan Motorsports CEO told The Jordan Times that the event will carry a host of challenges.

“We have the elite of the elite taking part in the rally, MERC opener and we are expecting a very exciting event especially that the Rally consists of 15 stages including the super special stage which gets under way 2 kilometres on the shores of the Dead Sea on Thursday,” Naseef said.

“This is the first time, Jordan Rally is the MERC opener and this is what makes it so special and we have added two challenging stages: Qamar and Nakheel to make it more exciting and we hope that the rally will be accident free,” he added.

Drivers will face 234.20 competitive kilometres in a compact route of 504.27km.

“Drivers will pass through several demanding stages: Mahes [19km], Nakheel [30.30km] Baptism [11,68km], Sweimeh [11.74km] Rawda [12.69km] Qamar [8,11km] and Maeen [16.91km],” Naseef said.

“The rally has the support of HRH Prince Feisal who is making sure that everything is going according to the plans and strategy and we thank everyone who is placing all their effort into making such an event a very exciting one,” he added.

Five Jordanian drivers are taking part in the event Ahmad Shaban, Ihab Al Shorafa, Ameer Nassif, Asem Aref and Khaled Juma.

“Last year, we had to deal with an exhaust-related fire and a broken turbocharger for two and a half stages on the last day of the rally and this forced us to retire and miss a good opportunity,” Juma said.

“Well in the rallying world anything could happen and sometimes bad things happen but we always hope for the best and I think we have a good chance for a place at the podium,” he added. 

In addition to Attiyah, Kuwaiti Meshari Al Thefiri, Czech Vojtech Štajf, Lebanon’s Henry Kahy and Omani Abdullah Al Wawahi will be competing aggressively.

Attiyah has always said that Jordan Rally has a big spot in his heart stated earlier: “People talk about records and, yes, it is nice to win rallies and break records. But it’s not about that. It’s about enjoying the rallies and making sure that we give a good performance. I guess if you look at other championships we have won many more rallies and, of course, I still want to win in Jordan. I like the stages and the rally very much.”

The Jordan Rally will have a national competition along the main event.

“The second round of the Jordan National Rally Championship will be held with four Jordanians: Tareq Taher, Ziad Meqdad, Salameh Qamaz and Raed Edwan competing,” Naseef said.

Ahmed Shaban won the first round of the Jordan National Rally Championship after clocking 1h00m33s followed by Khaled Juma in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 (1h00m34s) and Salameh Qamaz in their Mitsubishi Evo 5 (1h02m17s).

“We wish all drivers all the best and the fans an enjoyable event,” he stated.