Al-Attiyah and Carrera Aim to Maintain Their Winning Momentum at the Jordan Rally
Royal Automobile Club of Jordan to host ceremonial start on Thursday evening
DEAD SEA (JORDAN): Nineteen-time FIA Middle East Rally Champion Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera will be aiming to extend their perfect winning start to the season with victory in this weekend’s Jordan Rally.
The fourth round of the regional rally series gets underway from the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan (RACJ) in Amman on Thursday evening. Spectators are welcome to attend from 18.00hrs with a display of drift and competition cars also on site before the ceremonial start gets underway at 19.15hrs.
Al-Attiyah and Carrera are chasing a fourth successive win this season after victories in Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. While Carrera chases a maiden regional rally title, Al-Attiyah will be hoping that a staggering 90th MERC event win would also net him a record-breaking 17th success in the Hashemite Kingdom and yet another win with an Autotek-run Škoda Fabia RS.
The Qatari arrived in Amman from South Africa, via a brief pit stop in Doha, and has been mentally preparing himself in Amman away from the punishing heat at the Dead Sea. The team carried out a brief shakedown test on Tuesday afternoon, although the Qatari is aware that he has strong competition over a dozen challenging gravel stages in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas this weekend.
Al-Attiyah: “Jordan is like a second home for me. My first race was in Jordan in 1989, and we are still coming to race here. We have seen from the recce that the organisers have done an amazing job. I will try my best to win the race again.
“We started the season well with the new Fabia. We tested on Tuesday, and it was a useful test. We changed a few things on the setup, but we had a good base to build on from last year. This is my favourite rally, but we need to be clever. It’s going to be hot, and maybe some people will struggle.
Candido is a professional co-driver, and I have known him for a long time. He doesn’t just co-drive; he does all the planning for every race. I have been surprised by his performance.”
Fresh from a strong result at the recent WRC Rally of Portugal, Rakan Al-Rashed will be hoping to build upon that experience to continue his push for a first ever MERC event win in a Toyota GR Yaris. The Saudi and his Portuguese co-driver Hugo Magalhāes picked up points for second place in Oman and Saudi Arabia and fourth in Qatar to hold second in the title race, albeit 31 points behind Al-Attiyah and Carrera.
Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi won the event outright on his way to the regional title in 2023 and will also benefit from the experience of local co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud this weekend. Al-Rawahi is third in the Drivers’ Championship, with points for second place in Qatar being his best result of the season so far.
Al-Hmoud said, “We have one target and that is to win the rally. It will not be easy, especially with Nasser in the Škoda RS and Rakan with his Toyota Yaris and Abdulaziz with the Citroën.
We have experience in Jordan. Hopefully, we can be at the top level of the game. The Dead Sea at this time of year is very hot. Weather conditions could be tough. I missed Jeddah (Rally Saudi Arabia) because my wife delivered two babies, two young angels, a baby girl, and a baby boy. Now I have a bigger family. We will do our best to win this event.”
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari is the defending regional champion and also won last year’s Jordan National Championship. The Qatari has enjoyed more seat time this season in rallies and cross-country events and showed with a pair of third-place finishes in Qatar and Saudi Arabia that his Citroën C3 is more than capable of challenging for the win.
Consistent finishes have lifted Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya into fourth in the points standings in his Ford Fiesta, although the Qatari veteran is also chasing glory in the inaugural FIA Master MERC Championship for Drivers. Three maximum points scores have given Al-Atya a 42-point cushion in that new championship.
Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez, Ihab Al-Shorafa, and Bassel Abu Hamdan complete the line-up of drivers in the Rally2 category in three Škoda Fabias.
The Omani duo of Zakariya Al-Aamri and Abdullah Al-Zubair are separated by 15 points in their current duel for FIA MERC2 honours. Both Subaru drivers are hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year’s champion Shaker Jweihan and lift the region’s secondary championship title, although Jweihan is one of several regional drivers aiming to stop the two Omanis running away with the title.
Jweihan said: “A new stage and it’s the first of the rally. This is a long and important one. I think whoever succeeds there will carry that on throughout the rally. The car feels good, and the preparations have gone well. We will see how this rally goes and how the other guys (Zakariya and Abdullah) fit in. We will look at the results and carry on with the experience.”
Kuwait’s Jassim Al-Muqahwi, Lebanon’s Shadi Al-Fakih, and Palestine’s Hamada Uda are also chasing MERC2 honours.
The QMMF confirmed the late withdrawal of young Qatari Mohammed Al-Marri because of business commitments. But 21 cars are expected to attend pre-event scrutineering at the Dead Sea on Thursday morning, in addition to nine more solely eligible for the opening two rounds of the Jordan National Championship.
Rashid Al-Mohannadi has a commanding 45-point lead in the FIA MERC4 category. With Al-Marri’s absence this weekend, the Peugeot 208 driver faces resistance from Qatari academy rookie Saad Al-Harqan and Indian driver Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil in his two-wheel drive Ford Fiesta.
The Jordanian duo of Shadi Shaban and Mohammed Al-Shorafa, and Lebanese Joanna Hassoun are also eligible to score MERC points in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IXs.
This year’s Jordan Rally is supported by Zain Jordan, Guarantee Travel Group, Hala and Bliss FM, Markazia and Toyota Gazoo Racing Jordan.
2025 Jordan Rally – updated entry list:
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP)Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2Rakan Al-Rashed (KSA)/Hugo Magalhães (POR)Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR)Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN)Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL)Citroën C3 Rally 2Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Vili Oslaj (SLO)Škoda Fabia Rally 2Ihab Al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR)Škoda Fabia Evo Rally 2Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA)/Firas Elias (LBN)Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2Abdullah Al-Zubair (OMA)/Taha Al-Zadjali (OMA)Subaru Impreza N14Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo XJassim Al-Muqahwi (KUW)/Suleiman Al-Helal (KUW)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo XShadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo XZakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA)Subaru Impreza N14Salem Al-Dhafeeri (KUW)/Waleed Al-Dhafeeri (KUW)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X*Hamada Uda (PAL)/Mustafa Juma (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo XRashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary McElhinney (IRL)Peugeot 208 Rally 4Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil (IND)/Musa Sherif (IND)Ford Fiesta Rally 4Saad Al-Harqan (QAT)/Pierre Delorme (FRA)Peugeot 208 Rally 4Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT)Mohammed Al-Shorafa (JOR)/Yazan Juma (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT)*Joanna Hassoun (LBN)/Sami Fleifel (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT)
*denotes not registered for the MERC
2025 Jordan National Rally – updated entry list:
Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR)Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Vili Oslaj (SLO)Škoda Fabia Rally 2Ihab Al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR)Škoda Fabia Evo Rally 2Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo XZakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA)Subaru Impreza N14 Hamada Uda (PAL)/Mustafa Juma (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo XShadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IXMohammed Al-Shorafa (JOR)/Yazan Juma (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IXJoanna Hassoun (LBN)/Sami Fleifel (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IXIssa Abu Jamous (JOR)/Saqer Abu Jamous (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IXFadi Dahshan (JOR)/Raed Dahshan (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IXFayez Al-Ghammaz (JOR)/Salameh Al-Ghammaz (JOR)Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIBader Al-Helalat (JOR)/Amer Mousa (JOR)Subaru ImprezaAmjad Al-Sheikh (JOR)/Abdullah Ibdah (JOR)Subaru ImprezaAsem Aref (JOR)/Musa Djiyerian (JOR)Subaru Impreza Hashim Al-Kalbouneh (JOR)/Dergham Rustom (JOR)Black Iris PrototypeYahia Sobar (JOR)/Hamzeh Qabshoura (JOR)Toyota FJ CruiserKarim Badawi (JOR)/Walid Shabsogh (JOR)Suzuki Samarai
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