Al-Attiyah, Carrera aim to maintain momentum in 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 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) event win would also net him a record-breaking 17th success in the Hashemite Kingdom and yet another win with an Autotek-run Skoda 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.

Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah

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 Magalhaes 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 Skoda RS and Rakan with his Toyota Yaris and Abdulaziz with the Citroen. “We have the experience in Jordan. Hopefully, we can be the top level of the game. The Dead Sea at this time of year is very hot. Weather conditions could be a tough one. 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 Citroen 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.