Emphatic 11th Jordan Rally victory for Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah 06.05.2017: Jordan Rally 2017 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, round 2 Saturday, May 6th, 2017

Jordan Rally
2017 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, round 2
Saturday, May 6th, 2017



•    Marouf Abu Samra becomes first Jordanian runner-up since 1981

•    Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri takes third and leads MERC and MERC 2
 



He began the event as the firm favourite, but Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah was in devastating form to completely dominate the FIA Jordan Rally in his new Autotek-run Ford Fiesta R5 Evo 2. The 12-time regional rally champion won all the special stages for the second successive year and reached the finish at the Dead Sea with a winning margin of 16min 09.3sec.
 


It was the perfect result for the Qatari and French navigator Matthieu Baumel after their retirement in round one in February and keeps the Qatari in the hunt for a 13th title, despite the fact that he still trails Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri by seven points in the unofficial championship standings. The victory was Al-Attiyah’s 64th in MERC history; Baumel has now taken 13 as a co-driver.
 


“The car was fantastic, no issues at all and I was able to control my pace and take no risks,” said Al-Attiyah. “The future of this championship is important to me and Jordan as a rally is one of the strongest anywhere with its organisation and important to a great many people. It has a proud tradition and deserves a strong future.”
 


The all-Jordanian crew of Marouf Abu Samra and navigator Malik Hariri returned to the Jordan Rally for the first time since 2014 and settled in superbly, despite only running a brief pre-event test on the old Turki stage. They produced an impressive career-best performance to seal second position and victory in MERC 2.
 


Abu Samra’s feat marked the first time in 36 years that a Jordanian driver had finished second in the Jordan Rally – the late Nabil Dirani completed the event behind Lebanon’s Michel Saleh at the wheel of a Renault 17 Gordini in 1981.
 


Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri began the event in strong contention for both the MERC and MERC 2 titles and third overall did the Mitsubishi Lancer driver’s chances no harm at all. He now leads the MERC 2 Championship outright by an unofficial 21 points and heads to Cyprus as the outright MERC leader.
 


Khaled and Emad Juma closed the gap on the Kuwaiti over the closing stages on Friday afternoon, after overcoming an exhaust-related fire, but a broken turbocharger for two and a half stages through Saturday morning’s loop cost the Jordanians any chance of snatching a podium finish. They eventually retired with mechanical problems on the second run through Shuna.
 


Saudi Arabia’s Rakan Al-Rashed used the Rally 2 ruling to regain fifth place after clutch woes and he and Finnish co-driver Jarkko Kalliolepo moved up to fourth at the in his Mahara Racing-run Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX before retiring on the road section to the final stage with fuel pump issues.
 


Jordan’s Ihab Al-Shorafa and Asem Aref rounded off the FIA finishers in fourth and fifth places after Kuwait’s Essam Al-Nejadi and Salem Al-Thefiri retired their Mitsubishis with mechanical issues after SS13.
 


Ahmad Shaban rolled out of the 2nd National Rally in the unlucky 13th Jordan River stage and was unable to challenge the eventual runaway winner Salamah Al-Gammaz. The Jordanian reached the finish 13min 04.3sec clear of the father and son crew of former Arabic teacher Ziad Miqdad and his son Hassan. Nasser Khanfar and Burhan Abu Gura were third.
 


Cars were flagged over the finish podium by H.R.H. Princess Ayah Al-Feisal, the daughter of H.R.H. Prince Feisal Al-Hussein, chairman of Jordan Motorsport.
 


The event ran thanks to a huge national effort supported by the Jordanian Government and its security and safety services.
 


It was also supported by the private sector with the Hilton Dead Sea Resort & Spa, Dead Sea Touristic & Real Estate Investment (Samarah), Vestel, CCI – Creative Concepts Industries, Radio Hala and Bliss FM all playing a key part.
 



Saturday – as it happened
 


All nine FIA cars and four runners in the 2nd National Rally began the opening 15km Shuna stage that preceded runs through the Jordan River and Baptism Site stages and the return to service at the Dead Sea. The opener was slightly delayed while some spectators were relocated and Al-Attiyah increased his lead to 9min 49.6sec.
 


Al-Thefiri managed to fend off a struggling Juma to strengthen his hold on third place heading to the 31.01km of the renowned Jordan River stage. Al-Attiyah just missed out on breaking the 23-minute barrier for the longest timed section of the event and another fastest time pushed the Qatari 11min 37.9sec in front of Abu Samra, who had sustained a flat tyre three kilometres into the Shuna stage.
 


Ongoing turbo charger issues wrecked Juma’s chance of threatening Al-Thefiri’s hold on third. Ahmad Shaban rolled his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI out of the 2nd National Rally and enabled Salamah Al-Gammaz to take a massive lead into the remaining five stages.
 


Al-Attiyah reached service with a lead of 12min 14.5sec and there were large gaps between drivers inside the top six after Juma dropped another three minutes to Al-Thefiri through Baptism with his turbo charger woes. “We had to complete two and a half stages like this,” groaned the Jordanian.
 


The road section between Jordan River and Baptism spelt the end of the line for Essam Al-Nejadi (overheating) and Salem Al-Thefiri (mechanical).
 


Al-Attiyah survived the second loop of stages and a repeat of Thursday night’s super special to secure the victory, while Abu Samra and Al-Thefiri did enough to consolidate second and third overall. Juma was sidelined on the stage after service with mechanical problems and his demise lifted Al-Rashed to fourth, only for the Saudi to retire within sight of the finish with fuel pump issues.
 


The third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship takes place in Cyprus on June 16-18.
 




2017 FIA Jordan Rally – positions after SS18 (unofficial 18.10hrs):




1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Ford Fiesta R5 Evo2                                2hr 56min 37.0sec

2. Marouf Abu Samra (JOR)/Malek Hariri (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX                                3hr 12min 46.3sec

3. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                3hr 17min 15.0sec

4. Ihab Al-Shorafa (JOR)/Yousef Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX                                        3hr 46min 58.9sec

5. Asem Aref (JOR)/Musa Djiyerian (JOR) Renault Clio                                                                                          4hr 27min 46.7sec                 



9 starters, 5 finishers
 



2017 2nd Jordan National Rally – final positions after SS17:


1. Salamah Al-Gammaz (JOR)/Feisal Al-Gammaz (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V                                3hr 42min 33.4sec

2. Ziad Miqdad (JOR)/Hassan Miqdad (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII                                      3hr 55min 37.7sec

3. Nasser Khanfar (JOR)/Burhan Abu Gura (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI                                4hr 26min 38.9sec



4 starters, 3 finishers
 



FIA Middle East Rally Championship – positions after round 2 (unofficial):


1. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)                                    53pts                                                    
2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)                                                    46pts                                                    
3. Rashid Al-Naimi (QAT)                                      37pts
4. Marouf Abu Samra (JOR)                                       30pts                                                    
5. Ihab Al-Shorafa (JOR)                                    19pts                                                    
6. Asem Aref (JOR)                                                     14ots                                                    
7. Khalid Al-Suwaidi (QAT)                                  6pts
8. Khaled Juma (JOR)                                                     4pts                                                                                          
9. Salem Al-Thefiri (KWT)                                    2pts                                                                        
 



FIA MERC 2 Championship – positions after round 2 (unofficial):


1. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)                                    60pts                                                                                    
2. Rashid Al-Naimi (QAT)                                      39pts
2. Marouf Abu Samra (JOR)                                       39pts                                                    
4. Ihab Al-Shorafa (JOR)                                    24pts                                                    
5. Khaled Juma (JOR)                                                     5pts                                                                                           
6. Salem Al-Thefiri (KWT)                                    3pts                                                                                      
                                    

                                                                                          
 
Neil Perkins,  also photos