Tribune News Network
Dead Sea (Jordan)
Abdullah Al Rawahi became the first Omani ever to win the Jordan Rally after a dramatic fightback by Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah was thwarted by punctures on the closing stages of a pulsating Jordan Rally on Saturday.
Al Rawahi and local driver Ata Al Hmoud had taken a lead of 2min 33.5sec into the final six special stages in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas in their Skoda Fabia Evo. But Al Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel launched a full-scale fightback during the morning and reduced the deficit to 1min 20sec at the midday service point.
The pendulum appeared to have swung in the Qatari’s favour when the Oman Rally Team crew clocked out of service three minutes late and incurred a 30-second time penalty, reducing the deficit to 50 seconds. But Al Attiyah was forced to change a punctured tyre on the first test after the restart and then punctured again with Al Rawahi reaching the finish 7min 04.2sec clear of the struggling defending champion.
With the pressure off on the final stage, it enabled Al Rawahi to secure his third career MERC win and Al Hmoud became the first Jordanian to win his home rally since Amjad Farrah and Khalid Zakaria prevailed on a dramatic final stage way back in 2004. Al-Rawahi’s third success drew him level with the late Bjorn Waldegard, Jean-Pierre Nasrallah and Abdullah Bakhashab in the regional Hall of Fame.
Al Rawahi said: “It’s been a very tough weekend for us. The stages were really nice and we enjoyed them. We managed to win this rally. The second day was difficult, actually starting first on the road. Nasser was trying to keep the pressure but we held on. Well done to my team. They have worked really hard this weekend. It’s an amazing feeling.
“When I started rallying my first rally was here in Jordan, so it’s a big thing for me. I have been gaining so much experience against the champion. Every rally we learn a lot, especially from the pressure we were in this weekend. We won the first rally and now this one. We will keep pushing and see what happens.”
Al Attiyah added: “This is my favourite race but, this year, it was not easy. Day one and day two, we were struggling a little bit with the problems. Today we had two flat tyres in the same stage and we tried to manage three stages with punctures and we had only one spare.
“We made it happen. It was important to finish and we finished second. Well done to Abdullah, he did an amazing race. Still, we are leading the championship and we look ahead to Lebanon. I am disappointed at one point but, on the other, I am happy to finish.”
Meshari Al Thefiri teamed up with Qatar’s Nasser Al Kuwari and were the class of the MERC2 field for the third successive event this season. The Kuwaiti rounded off the podium places and finished 6min 49.2sec clear of fourth-placed Jordanian Shaker Jweihan and his Omani co-driver Taha Al Zadjali.
Al Thefiri said: “Very happy to win in MERC2. It was a tough day because I keep pole position and it was difficult to drive. Finally, we finished without any issues and we look forward to the next round.”
After Sheikh Bader Al Fayez and Emad Juma left the road on the second stage of the morning, that opened the door for Shadi Shaban and Samer Issa to finish fifth. The Lebanese pairing of Ahmad Khaled and Joseph Kmeid rounded off the top six and finished fourth in MERC2. Up-and-coming Jordanian talent Mustafa Al Atari was seventh overall.
Action in the 2023 FIA Middle East Rally Championship resumes in Lebanon on September 15th-17th.2023
Jordan Rally – positions after SS13:
1. Abdullah Al Rawahi (OMN)/Ata Al Hmoud (JOR) Skoda Fabia Evo 2hr 24min 18.3sec 2. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (QAT)/Mathieu Baumel (AND) Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 2hr 31min 22.5sec 3. Meshari Al Thefiri (KWT)/Nasser Al Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2hr 32min 55.5sec 4. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Taha Al Zadjali (OMN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2hr 39min 44.7sec 5. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2hr 41min 46.1sec 6. Ahmad Khaled (LEB)/Joseph Kmeid (LEB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2hr 48min 18.6sec 7. Mustafa Al Atari (JOR)/Zeid Abu Zaid (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2hr 52min 10.0sec 8. Ihab Al Shorafa (JOR)/Yousef Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3hr 02min 36.6sec 9. Salem Al Dhafeeri (KWT)/Fares Al Thefiri (KWT) Subaru Impreza 3hr 18min 30.7sec 10. Fadi Dahshan (JOR)/Yazan Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3hr 26min 28.8sec 11. Sami Fleifel (JOR)/Samer Sfeir (LEB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3hr 34min 04.0sec 2023
Jordan National Rally –
positions after SS13:
1. Abdullah Al Rawahi (OMN)/Ata Al Hmoud (JOR) Skoda Fabia Evo 2hr 24min 18.3sec 2. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Taha Al Zadjali (OMN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2hr 39min 44.7sec 3. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2hr 41min 46.1sec 4. Mustafa Al Atari (JOR)/Zeid Abu Zaid (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2hr 52min 10.0sec 5. Nancy Al Majali (JOR)/Nadia Shnoudeh (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 2hr 58min 41.7sec 6. Ihab Al Shorafa (JOR)/Yousef Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3hr 02min 36.6sec 7. Ghaith Qubti (JOR)/Tarek Al Assad (JOR) Range Rover Classic 3hr 11min 13.1sec 8. Asem Aref (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR) Subaru Impreza 3hr 25min 57.5sec 9. Fadi Dahshan (JOR)/Yazan Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3hr 26min 28.8sec 10. Sami Fleifel (JOR)/Samer Sfeir (LEB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3hr 34min 04.0sec 11. Hashem Kalbouneh (JOR)/Mustafa Al Bitar (JOR) Black Iris 3hr 46min 58.0sec 12. Ziad Miqdad (JOR)/Amer Mousa (JOR) Renault Clio 4hr 02min 20.6sec.
