Al Attiyah leads impressive entry list for Jordan Rally
Tribune News Network
Amman
The upcoming Jordan Rally will be the fourth round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) and Jordan Motorsport has announced that 22 cars grace the official entry list for the event taking place on May 29 th -31 st .
Crews will tackle a dozen special stages and 196.30 competitive kilometres in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas. The event will also count towards the new Junior and Master Championships for Drivers.
Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Candido Carrera head the field after winning the opening three rounds of the season in Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They will be aiming to defend a 31-point lead over Rakan Al-Rashed and Hugo Magalhaes in their respective MERC Drivers' and Co-drivers' Championships. The record 16-time winner of the event lays trust in his Autotek Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
A total of eight Rally2 machines grace the entry list: defending regional champion Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, the 2023 MERC champion Abdullah Al Rawahi, Qatari Nasser Khalifa Al Atya, Bassal Abu Hamdan and the Jordanian duo of Sheikh Bader Al Fayez and Ihab Al Shorafa complete the list. Both local drivers have entered Skoda Fabias.
Oman's Zakariya Al Aamri and Abdullah Al Zubair are currently locked in their own battle for supremacy in the FIA MERC2 category in a pair of Subarus and they head a list of seven crews aiming for showroom class honours.
Local knowledge may favour the defending regional champion Shaker Jweihan, while Kuwait's Jassim Al Muqahwi and Salem Al Dhafeeri, Lebanon's Shadi Al Fakih and Palestine's Hamada Uda round off the MERC2 field. All five challengers to the front- running Omani duo wheel out Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Xs.
Qatari Rashid Al Mohannadi has a commanding lead in the two-wheel drive FIA MERC4 category after three rounds. He faces competition from young Qatar Academy drivers, Mohammed Al Marri and Saad Al Harqan, and Indian driver Payyakkal Panikkaveettil (Ford Fiesta). All three Qataris drive French-built Peugeot 208s.
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