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Ammon News - by Roufan Nahhas | The Jordan Times

AMMAN –– The Jordan Rally, the third round of the 2013 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, kicks off on Thursday with the participation of 27 drivers representing eight countries.

The May 9–11 event will have its ceremonial start from the Martyrs’ Memorial in Al Hussein Sports City on Thursday evening, according to Ihab Bate, clerk of the course.

The popular and challenging event, which is celebrating 30 years since Jordan Rally officially became one of the rounds of Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), will be held under the patronage of HRH Prince Feisal, chairman of Jordan Motorsport who watched closely all the steps towards having a world-class event.

“The rally will be based again around the harsh tracks in the Jordan Valley, close to the Dead Sea area where the FIA World Rally Championship round took place last year,” Bate told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of a press conference.

“The stages, which will be a tough test for man and machine, are complete and ready for the ultimate challenge. Volunteers finished their training and safety issues have been finalised,” he added.

According to Bate, a host of professional drivers headed by last year’s champion Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah will give the rally a special taste.

“We expect an excellent number of drivers from Jordan and the region to compete in the rally which will follow Qatar and Kuwait rallies. We expect Attiyah to face great challenges from other drivers,” he said.

Attiyah has a 14-point lead so far after securing wins in both Qatar and Kuwait and a seventh win in Jordan would give him a 48th regional rally win and set him well on the road to a ninth MERC title.

According to organisers, 11 Jordanian drivers join Attiyah and three other drivers from Qatar, seven from the UAE, three from Lebanon, two from Kuwait and one each from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Italy.

UAE’s Khaled Al Qassemi is hoping for a win to close the gap with Attiyah saying:”I know that I can do even better as I had faced some problems in the Portugal Rally so I will be better prepared in Jordan. I have a new team and a new car so it takes a few rallies to get used to each other but we are getting there and we’ll be ready for Jordan,” Qassemi, who won Jordan Rally in 2007, said.

“The season has started pretty well, but we need a bit more luck to win. We have also been working very hard with the entire team to adapt the DS3 RRC to the road surfaces encountered in the Middle East. The DS3 RRC is a very sensitive car and we have a few ideas about how we can improve the set-up. I hope we’ll find some good solutions, so we can really challenge in the first few stages,” he added.

Qassemi finished in the 9th place while Atiyah came fifth in Portugal Rally.

Lebanese driver Roger Feghali who is a frequent participant in the Kingdom’s auto sports events said that it is an excellent list of drivers that makes the challenge even harder.

Jordan’s strong delegation will be headed by Marof Abu Samra, Ala’ Khaleefeh, Ala’ Rasheed, Husam Salem, Zeid Dahshan, Faisal Al Tal, Ahmad Mehyar, Basheer Azar, Yousef Al Asmar, Salameh Gammaz and Rami Hijazi.

Abu Samra, who is teaming up with Malek Hariri in their Skoda Fabia S2000, said: “Jordan Rally is always a great challenge especially that there is a layer of very slippery gravel on the top which will make it really tricky and hard. We hope to have an advanced position without any accidents.”

Salem, who is teaming up with co-driver, Nanci Majali, said:”We are looking forward for a great event and a great challenge. Our strategy is to play it more carefully and have an accident-free event and focus on an advanced position.”

Ala’ Rasheed who considers himself a beginner compared to other drivers said that he is ready to take the chance and hopes that one Jordanian driver will be able to reserve a place at the podium.

Last year, Attiyah in his Ford Fiesta RRC clocked 2h53m08.6s marking his 43rd MERC career success followed by Lebanon’s Roger Feghali and co-driver Joseph Mattar in the second place with 2h53m43.4s and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajihi and co-driver Michael Orr in the third spot with 2h55m30.9s.

Qatar’s Abdul Aziz Kuwari ended the rally in the fourth place with 3h03m21.7s and UAE’s Khaled Al Qassemi finished fifth with 3h03m48.8s.

Jordan’s Hussam Salem who marked his first rally appearance in 2012 settled in the 9th place after clocking 3h34m32.8s leading the Kingdom’s participation.

On Friday, drivers will head to Suwayma, Mahes, Mount Nebo, Ma’in then back. While on Saturday, drivers will pass through Turki, Bahath, Karama, Baptism Site then back to the finish line. A total of 16 timed special stages and 256.64 competitive kilometres in a total route of 764.62km in the Dead Sea area, Bate said.

At the main press conference on Wednesday MP Amer Basheer, Jordan Motorsports vice chair, thanked all sponsors Zain, Ford and Crowne Plaza in addition to all media for their support.