The 2021 Jordan Rally, round two of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship, starts at the Dead Sea on Thursday afternoon.
Record-breaking Qatari Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah aims to rewrite his own record with a 14th win on the event, as he chases a 17th regional title and a 78th championship win since 2003.
We are really happy to come back here to Jordan after the rally was cancelled last year because of Covid-19. Thanks to the organisers and Prince Feisal to make this happen. It is very important for our region. Me and Matthieu are excited to be here.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, during recce
I have a lot of nice memories here. My start of racing was here in Jordan in 1989 in the Desert Challenge. We are ready and are so happy to see our friend Hamed Al-Wahaibi come back to do the race and to compete in the Middle East Championship. I hope all the drivers continue to come back each year.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah
The rally has 13 FIA entries from nine nations. Crews finished two days of recce on Wednesday, and cars go through FIA technical checks on Thursday morning.
Several drivers, including Oman Rally Team’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Hamed Al-Wahaibi, fitted in a shakedown early in the week to fix any last-minute issues.
Meshari Al-Thefiri aims to continue his remarkable MERC2 run in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.
Everything is excellent. We tested the car on Monday in the Panorama stage before we went to the recce. We did a 30-kilometre test to fine tune everything and the plan was to do another test today. The stages look good. The organisers have done a really good job of planning. We have won the Group N category in the last three years and, of course, we want to finish the rally without problems.
Meshari Al-Thefiri
Several leading drivers attend the pre-event press conference on the podium before the first car crosses the Dead Sea start ramp from 16.20hrs on Thursday. Ten gravel stages follow on Friday and Saturday.
The event is supported by Zain Jordan, Guarantee Travel Group and Nestlé Waters Jordan.