Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah dominated the 2021 Jordan Rally to secure a historic 14th win on the event by 17min 04.8sec on Saturday.
The Volkswagen Polo GTi driver and Andorra-based co-driver Matthieu Baumel won all 10 stages around the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo to extend their FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) leads. Chasing a record 17th regional title, Al-Attiyah took his 78th MERC win and Baumel his 27th.
This is a good feeling. A good day. It was a nice rally for us. A win again, 14 times in Jordan, and we have a good lead in the Middle East Championship. The next step will be Lebanon Rally and we try to defend our title.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah
Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri started the day 40.8 seconds clear in MERC2 and the second-placed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X driver took another showroom class win after nearest rival Alex Feghali chose to drive carefully to secure a first MERC podium.
All is good and thank god we passed all the stages and made it to the end. This is the first time we finished this rally and I am on the podium, so that is amazing.
Alex Feghali
Shadi Sheban lost a second Jordan National Rally win to a resurgent Khaled Juma, but finished a career-best fourth in the FIA event as top Jordanian and leads the National Championship after a win and a second over the two days.
A flat tyre and front differential problems cost Lebanon’s Shadi El-Fakih a lot of time on the first two stages of the final day, and penalties for leaving service late and then going OTL on stage nine let Qatar’s Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya take fifth with Italian navigator Giovanni Bernacchini.
Saudi Arabia’s Saleh Al-Saif restarted under Rally2 after Friday’s accident and drive shaft problems and climbed back to sixth in his Can-Am Maverick X3, pushing local driver Ihab Al-Shorafa to seventh and MERC3 winner Asem Aref to eighth. Defending two-wheel-drive champion Henry Kahy also restarted under Rally2 and completed the finishers in ninth.
Saturday as it happened
Al-Attiyah dominated the first runs through the 31.57km Jordan River stage and the stifling heat of Joufeh (26.01km) to stretch his lead to 12min 02.5sec.
We like these two stages. They are long and the organisation make a good, good job. The second one was the opposite of yesterday. We see all the machines (regrading) on the stages. It was a great job by the organisation. The car is working well. Two stages to go…
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah
Feghali had promised to attack Al-Thefiri’s 40.8-second lead in MERC2 and second overall, but instead took it easy, losing 32.5 seconds on the first stage and 13 more on the second to trail by 1min 26.5sec at the Dead Sea service park.
Now we are just cruising through to secure third position. We are not trying to catch Meshari and gain experience for the next events. First rally, first podium, would be amazing.
Alex Feghali
After the heat and two punctures on day one, Al-Atya found his rhythm with two fourth-fastest times to close on El-Fakih’s fifth place behind Shaban, who had water get into the engine from under the sump guard. El-Fakih punctured 16km into the morning’s first stage, drove on the rim to the finish, then had front differential trouble in the second.
We push in the first stage and catch Shadi (El-Fakih) in the middle of the stage. In the dust we went into the grass off the road. We lost maybe half a minute and we reversed and then we catch again and lose maybe a minute more in the dust. But we managed to pass him before the end of the stage and then caught him again in the second one…
Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya
Back under Rally2 rules, Al-Saif was quick again and moved up to seventh at the expense of Al-Shorafa and Aref. Kahy restarted at the back, but engine damage had already forced Ahmad Khaled and Abdullah Al-Rawahi out for good on Friday. Khaled Juma led Shaban by 3min 16.9sec in round two of the Jordan National Rally Championship.
A careful Al-Attiyah was 1.4 seconds slower on the second run through Jordan River, while El-Fakih’s morning troubles proved costly: penalties for starting the second loop late dropped him behind Al-Atya to sixth before he retired on stage nine.
Al-Attiyah managed the final stage to complete a clean sweep of 10 stage wins and a 14th win in the Kingdom. Al-Thefiri held on through the slippery second loop to take second overall and the MERC2 win, 2min 25.8sec ahead of Feghali. Khaled Juma won round two of the National Championship, with Amjad Al-Anasweh third, as a careful Shaban finished the FIA event as top Jordanian.
The 2021 FIA Middle East Rally Championship continues at the Rally of Lebanon on September 3rd-5th.
Positions after SS10
- 1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Volkswagen Polo GTI 2hr 49min 06.0sec
- 2. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3hr 06min 10.8sec
- 3. Alex El-Feghali (LBN)/Georges Deaibess (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3hr 08min 36.6sec
- 4. Shadi Sheban (JOR)/Emad Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3hr 24min 38.9sec
- 5. Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (QAT)/Giovanni Bernacchini (ITA) Ford Fiesta 3hr 39min 13.1sec
- 6. Saleh Al-Saif (SAU)/Feisal Al-Suwayh (SAU) Can-Am Maverick X3 3hr 52min 03.5sec