DEAD SEA, JORDAN – The Jordan Rally roared into life at the HoverUp Park by the Dead Sea on Thursday evening.
Seventeen crews contesting the third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) were joined at the start ceremony by 10 more teams competing only in the second and third rounds of the Jordan national series. All of them face a dozen gravel special stages on Friday and Saturday in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas.
A new home for the start
The new HoverUp Park hosted the pre-event press conference and ceremonial start for the first time. Set in the sandy valley north of the Dead Sea, next to parts of the Baptism Site and Suwayma stages, it is the latest addition to Jordan’s rich motorsport history: a new drag racing track that also hosts off-roading and track days.
It made a perfect backdrop for the start of the rally, which is held under the patronage of H.R.H. Prince Feisal Al-Hussein, Chairman of Jordan Motorsport.
Al-Attiyah: “Winning here will make it easier”
Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah is chasing an 18th win in the Hashemite Kingdom with Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera, but he also has the Drivers’ Championship in mind. He trails his cousin, Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya, by 12 points.
It’s nice to be here again. It’s a difficult race and one of the most beautiful. After winning Oman, we went back to Qatar and were leading until we had a problem with a wheel rim. It was a mistake by the manufacturer. We lost a lot of points but we are here and well prepared. I have won here 17 times. I enjoy my life and I enjoy this event a lot. The stages are nice and the new Rawda stage will be new for everyone. It’s also easy to get a puncture there.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah
We need to be clever to get full points because we don’t know what will happen with Lebanon and Cyprus and then the last race will be in Saudi Arabia. This is part of the WRC and more points will be available at that race. Winning here will make it easier for us at the end of the year.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah
Al-Rawahi returns to where it all began
Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi has regularly matched the Qatari’s stage pace in recent seasons, and he too needs a big points haul after a tough start to the year. He is 19 points behind the championship leader.
It’s always a good feeling to be back to the place where I actually started rallying in the Middle East championship. These are some of the toughest stages in the region, very technical and the competition is high. We have been close to him (Al-Attiyah) for the last two years. We have taken another step forward and have been working really hard with the team to get the best set-up.
Abdullah Al-Rawahi
Hopefully this time we get it right. The last stage, the Power Stage, is tough and quite rough in places. There are some tarmac sections but it is narrow and tricky and the pace notes need to be really precise. It’s going to be tough, especially with the heat.
Abdullah Al-Rawahi
Shakedown: Al-Rawahi fastest
Al-Rawahi was the first driver to set a time on Thursday morning’s 4.83km Shakedown. He clocked 3min 05.0sec, 12.4 seconds faster than Hamza Bakhashab on the first of their two permitted runs. Both drivers went much quicker on their second attempts, with Al-Rawahi fastest by 5.2 seconds with a time of 2min 58.8sec.
Al-Attiyah and Al-Atya both skipped the shakedown, but Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez and Bassel Abu Hamdan used it to finalise the set-up of their Rally2 cars.
The two QMMF-entered Peugeot 208 Rally4s were evenly matched, with Rashid Al-Muhannadi beating young Mohammed Al-Marri by only 1.3 seconds, though Al-Marri improved more on his second run to post the fifth-fastest time. Al-Muhannadi was joined by French co-driver Florian Barral, a late replacement for Szymon Gospodarczyk.
Only 11 of the 17 FIA crews took part in the shakedown.
Jweihan confident of MERC2 hattrick
Leading Jordanian Shaker Jweihan knows a podium is only realistic if several Rally2 rivals run into trouble over the next two days. He is dominating FIA MERC2 and is relishing the chance to complete a hattrick of class wins.
We are definitely feeling confident. We won the national rally here four weeks ago and that was similar to day one of the rally. The R5 cars are going to pull a lot of rocks on the track in front of us and that is going to be a problem. There should be some type of grading between the two loops because we will have a lot of loose rocks. The Power Stage is technical and new for everyone. The result will come down to that last stage!
Shaker Jweihan
Friday’s schedule
Crews tackle two passes through three stages on Friday. The first run through Shuna (15.25km) starts at 09.49hrs, followed by quick-fire tests through Baptism (11.24km) from 10.39hrs and Ma’in (16.87km) from 11.30hrs. After a midday service and regroup at the Dead Sea, the three stages are repeated from 13.49hrs, 14.39hrs and 15.30hrs.
2026 Jordan Rally shakedown times
- 1. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA) / Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR), Škoda Fabia R5 – 2min 58.8sec
- 2. Hamza Bakhashab (KSA) / Lorcan Moore (IRL), Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – 3min 04.0sec
- 3. Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA) / Firas Elias (LBN), Volkswagen Polo Rally2 – 3min 21.3sec
- 4. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR) / Joseph Matar (LBN), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 – 3min 26.7sec
- 5. Mohammed Al-Marri (QAT) / Pierre Delorme (FRA), Peugeot 208 Rally4 – 3min 37.8sec
- 6. Hamadeh Uda (PAL) / Zeid Abu Zeid (JOR), Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X* – 3min 38.3sec
- 7. Shadi Shaban (JOR) / Samer Issa (JOR), Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX* – 3min 38.6sec
- 8. Mohammed Al-Shorafa (JOR) / Samer Sfeir (LBN), Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX – 3min 40.1sec
- 9. Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT) / Florian Barral (FRA), Peugeot 208 Rally4 – 3min 44.2sec
- 10. Sami Fleifel (JOR) / Ameer Nassif (JOR), Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X – 4min 14.4sec
- 11. Farah Zakaria (JOR) / Dolyne Schlink (LBN), Can-Am Maverick X3 – 4min 27.2sec
*Not registered for the MERC.