Jordan Motorsport has announced the new 2018 Jordan Baja, the Hashemite Kingdom’s first cross-country rally since the Marlboro BP 2000 Desert Challenge ran in 1987, 1988 and 1990. The three-day event for cars, motorcycles and quads takes place in the stunning Wadi Rum area on September 27-29.
Based at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba in the south, close to the Wadi Rum deserts near the border with Saudi Arabia, organisers hope the Baja will quickly catch on with competitors and become a permanent fixture on future FIA and FIM calendars.
It runs as an FIA candidate event for possible inclusion in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, alongside three-day Bajas in Russia, Dubai, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Poland and Portugal.
The format
The competition for FIA T1, T2 and T3 cars runs alongside the Royal Motorcycle Club of Jordan Cup for Baja Rallies (RMCJ-BR), which oversees the secondary event for motorcycles and quads. The route is entirely on sand, with 383.80 competitive kilometres in a 776.89km route.
Othman Nassif chairs the organising panel with deputy chairman and clerk of the course George Khoury and his deputy Omar Zarour, drawing on the team’s experience of the Jordan Rally, opening round of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) and a former FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) round. Mousa Hazineh is in charge of safety, while Ashraf Juwinat and Zeid Abu Zeid lead the field and operations sections as assistant clerks of the course.
We are delighted that a lot of hard work and planning has come to fruition and we are able to announce what we hope will be an exciting and challenging Baja and the start of a new future in cross-country rallying for Jordan.
Othman Nassif, Chairman of the Organising Committee
We are blessed with some stunning desert terrain in Jordan and we have a strong team with WRC pedigree that also puts on a very popular and well organised round of the MERC. This is a new and exciting challenge for all of us and we are looking forward to hosting this brand new addition to the motor sport calendar in the Middle East region.
Othman Nassif
Schedule
The event is based at the Movenpick Hotel in Aqaba, with the start, finish and service park in the city. Reduced-rate entries close on Thursday, August 30, with a final deadline of Tuesday, September 11.
The service park and rally offices open in Aqaba on Monday, September 24. Administration and scrutineering take place on Wednesday, September 26, and the pre-event press conference precedes the ceremonial start (15.00hrs) in Aqaba and a timed four-kilometre super special (16.37hrs, first car) on Thursday, September 27.
Two challenging, scenic selective sections of 122.00km and 67.90km are run twice through the Wadi Rum deserts on Friday, September 28 (first car 08.48hrs and 12.58hrs) and Saturday, September 29 (first car 09.35hrs and 12.47hrs), before the podium finish and prize-giving in Aqaba from 18.00hrs. Motorcycles and quads tackle each stage before the cars.
History
The Marlboro BP 2000 Desert Challenge, Jordan’s only previous event of its kind, first ran in 1987, won by the late Kuwaiti driver Tariq Al-Wazzan in a Range Rover. Abbas Al-Mosawi won the following year in a Mitsubishi Pajero, and Qatar’s Saeed Al-Hajri won the last edition in 1990 in a Ford Bronco.