Al-Attiyah leads impressive field at Jordan Rally

Qatar’s rally ace Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah will be chasing a staggering 16th victory at the Jordan Rally, the second round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) which will be held on May 17 and 18. The Jordan Motorsport announced that the rally has attracted an impressive 29 entries and competitors from eight nations. They will battle it out over two days and 15 demanding special stages in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas.Al-Attiyah is a record-breaking 19-time regional rally champion and the Qatari is the star attraction in field that includes seven Rally2 cars, 10 running in the NR4 group, a Rally5 machine and the remainder of the field consisting of Jordanian crews competing for national honours. Al-Attiyah faces competition from Oman’s Abdullah al-Rawahi, the winner of last year’s Jordan Rally with whom he shared last season’s MERC Drivers’ Championship in a dead heat. Al-Rawahi is also the defending Jordanian national champion.Both drivers are entered in a pair of Skoda Fabia RS Rally2s with competition in the premier category coming from a pair of QMMF-backed Skoda for Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and Khalid al-Suwaidi, local driver Bader al-Fayez, Qatari veteran Nasser Khalifa al-Atya and Denis Krotov at the wheel of an SRT-run Fabia Rally2 Evo – Krotov making a surprise switch from the world of cross-country rallying to try his hand at the MERC for the first time.Jordanians dominate the showroom NR4 group with Issa Abu Jamous leading an impressive line-up of local stars, who include Ameer Nassif, Shadi Shaban, Shaker Jweihan, Husam Salem, Ihab al-Shorafa and Fadi Dahshan in a fleet of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions along with Palestine’s Hamada Odeh.The 10-strong list is completed by Lebanon’s Ahmad Khaled and Omani driver Zakariya al-Aamri in the only Subaru Impreza on the NR4 list. Shadi al-Fakih drives a Renault Clio as the solitary two-wheel drive Rally5 entry.A further five Jordanian crews will compete in Group M2 for national honours. They will run behind the main MERC event and have their own separate classification. The drivers are Salamah al-Gammaz and Feisal al-Gammaz in a pair of older Mitsubishi Evolutions and Asem Aref, Amjad al-Shaikh and Bader al-Helalat in three Subaru Imprezas.The entry is completed by six Jordanian and Palestinian crews running at the rear of the field in Group 2. Hashem Kalbouneh (Black Iris), Al-Hassan Khatib (Toyota FJ), Adnan Tiaha (Mitsubishi Pajero), Hassan al-Keid (BMW Buggy), Juma Ferwan (Nissan Navarra) and Mahmoud al-Jabbarin (Hyundai Buggy) complete the list.Jordan Motorsport has laid on 15 special stages and an increased 223.96 competitive kilometres in a compact route of 532.39km.