It is 10 years since Jordan crowned one of its own as the winner of the Jordan International Rally, but the reigning national champion believes 2014 could be his year.
Marouf Abu Samra, 38, is the top seeded Jordanian courtesy of winning the National Rally Championship in 2013, and he will lead a quality local field competing with some of the best regional drivers from May 1-3.
And the fact that he is competing at all is an achievement in itself having defied doctor’s orders to continue following a serious accident several years ago.
But a year recovering away from the sport only increased his hunger for success and he hopes to repeat the heroics of Amjad Farrah in 2004 by flying the Jordanian flag from the top of the podium.
“Jordanian drivers have the skills to compete on the highest levels but obviously we don’t have the budgets that some of the regional drivers enjoy,” said Abu Samra, who drives Skoda Fabia S2000 Group N: “We have prepared well for the Middle East rally with a good performance in last week’s National Rally. My co-driver Nicola Fanous had his first experience with me and we did great and were satisfied with the performance of the car and the team.”
With the likes of Ala’ Khalifa, Husam Salem and Ala’a Rasheed all also capable of mixing it up with the fastest from the region, Abu Samra hopes Jordanians can achieve success in their home rally.
There are a total of 10 Jordanian teams in the high quality line-up revealed earlier this week with Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah the top seeded driver.
The event is the third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship and gets underway with a special spectator evening of entertainment at Abdali from 4pm on May 1.