Second place for Oman Rally Team's Al-Rawahi after tyre issues in Jordan
Muscat: A puncture on the first special stage of the final morning proved to be mightily expensive for the Oman Rally Team's Abdullah Al-Rawahi and it ultimately cost him the chance to threaten the 19-time FIA Middle East champion Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah for victory at the Jordan Rally at Dead Sea in Jordan.
Al-Rawahi and his Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud pushed as hard as they could when conditions permitted but they were always running the risk of collecting a flat tyre on the day's six demanding gravel special stages in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas of the Hashemite Kingdom.
Another time delay with a flat tyre on the 10th stage eventually decided the outcome in Al-Attiyah's favour and Al-Rawahi had no alternative but to bring his Autotek Škoda Fabia R5 to the finish in second overall. Nevertheless, his day's result also netted a second Jordan National Championship event win of the weekend.
Al-Rawahi said: 'It was a long two days for us. The first day was quite good, especially with the pace and we were very close to Nasser. Unfortunately, today we had some punctures and we lost some time. Overall, we are very happy with our performance. It has been the closest we have been to him in the battle.
'We don't really have enough seat time in the car. After this rally I have three months off not really driving my car. My car is also an older generation and there is experience difference between me and Nasser. That is why it is good that he is in the championship. He helps us to push and get closer to him. It is still good. We wanted to win but we are still happy.'
A first pass through the iconic Panorama stage of 17.12km opened proceedings on the final morning. Outside temperatures were already up to 31°C at the start of the stage with a peak of 37°C in the afternoon.
Surface cleaning was evident on the opener but Al-Attiyah laid down the gauntlet with a time of 11min 38.0sec. Al-Rawahi dropped 32.3 seconds with tyre damage on a front-right wheel and that enabled Al-Attiyah to extend his lead to 45.8 seconds.
The first pass through Suwayma was next in the itinerary. Al-Attiyah stopped the clocks in 5min 47.0sec and was able to extend his advantage over Al-Rawahi to 52.5 seconds with another stage win.
Wadi Nar was the last stage of the loop. Al-Attiyah made it a clean sweep of morning stage wins and headed for the midday service and regroup with an advantage over Al-Rawahi of 53.1 seconds. He beat the Omani by just six-tenths of a second in the special.
After the opening loop of three stages, Al-Rawahi said: 'The first stage this morning we got a puncture and lost over 30 seconds. When you try to keep up and push this can happen sometimes. We were able to continue but the gap is bigger. It's not impossible but it was closer before. Now we are trying to maintain our speed. We have three more stages to go.'
A second delay occurred in the afternoon with another puncture but the Omani held on to take second place and maintain his push for a podium finish in this year's FIA Middle East Rally Championship.
The Oman Rally Team has backing from Al-Manar Investments, the Oman Automobile Association, WMS, Zamakan, OQ, Strike, Size, the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture of Oman and National Finance.
The FIA Middle East Rally Championship continues in Lebanon on September 5th-7th.
2025 Jordan Rally – positions after SS12 (unofficial):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 2hr 13min 47.7sec
2. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 2hr 16min 42.5sec
3. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Citroën C3 Rally 2 2hr 19min 01.3sec
4. Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA)/Firas Elias (LBN) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 2hr 33min 25.3sec
5. Abdullah Al-Zubair (OMA)/Taha Al-Zadjali (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 2hr 37min 26.0sec
6. Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2 2hr 38min 58.3sec
7. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Vili Oslaj (SLO) Škoda Fabia Rally 2 2hr 40min 34.9sec
8. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 2hr 41min 53.0sec
9. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT) 2hr 42min 10.2sec
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