Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah with his co-driver Candido Carrera celebrates on the podium after winning the Jordan Rally. Abdullah Al Rawahi of Oman and Ata Al Hmoud of Jordan came second while Qatar's Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore secured third place.
Dead Sea, Jordan: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah won all but one of the 12 gravel special stages on his way to a comfortable 17th victory in the Jordan Rally yesterday.
The success took the iconic Škoda Fabia RS driver to a record 90th career MERC rally win, as he closes in on an unprecedented 20th regional title since 2003.
The new partnership with his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera has a 100% winning record with the duo now taking victories at the opening four rounds of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and now Jordan.
Al Attiyah: “I am so happy to win again here in Jordan for the 17th time. This means a lot to me. This year we have won every rally so far. It feels like a good year, leading the Middle East Championship and leading the W2RC. For this rally, I will give it 10 out of 10. Today, we controlled the pace and tried to make a gap in case we had a puncture.”
Abdullah Al Rawahi and his Jordanian co-driver Ata Al Hmoud maintained the pressure on the Qatari throughout day one but a time-consuming puncture delayed the Omani on Saturday’s opening Panorama stage and a second issue on stage 10 proved too much for the 2023 regional champion. He finished second overall.
Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and his Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore tried different set-ups with their Citroën C3 but struggled to match the pace of the leading duo on this occasion. They did enough to round off the podium places.
Rakan Al Rashed’s main target was to finish the event and the Saudi again teamed up with Portugal’s Hugo Magalhāesin a Jameel Motorsport Toyota GR Yaris. Cruelly, his Yaris sustained substantial damage after an accident on the penultimate stage he was forced out.
Lebanese driver Bassel Abu Hamdan and his co-driver Firas Elias benefitted from his demise to round-off the top four in a Škoda Fabia.
Oman’s Abdullah Al Zubair led the MERC2 field from start-to-finish with co-driver Taha Al Tadjali to strengthen his push for the overall title.
Nasser Khalifa Al Atya continued his run of consistent form to bring his Ford Fiesta to the Dead Sea finish in sixth overall with co-driver Ziad Chehab.
That result was sufficient for the Qatari veteran to seal success in the inaugural FIA Master MERC Championship with two rounds to run.
The Jordanian duo of Sheikh Bader Al Fayez and Shadi Shaban were classified in seventh and ninth overall.
Tenth place was sufficient for Rashid Al Mohannadi to take victory over Saad Al Harqan and Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil in the FIA MERC4 category and to seal the championship title in his Peugeot 208 with two rounds to spare.
Al Rawahi earned victory in the second round of the Jordan National Championship with Shaker Jweihan claiming second place ahead of Sheikh Bader Al Fayez.
The FIA Middle East Rally Championship continues in Lebanon on September 5th-7th.
2025 Jordan Rally - Final standings
1. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 - 2hr 13min 47.7sec
2. Abdullah Al Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 - 2hr 16min 42.5sec
3. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Citroën C3 Rally 2 - 2hr 19min 01.3sec
4. Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA)/Firas Elias (LBN) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 - 2hr 33min 25.3sec
5. Abdullah Al Zubair (OMA)/Taha Al Zadjali (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 - 2hr 37min 26.0sec
6. Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2 - 2hr 38min 58.3sec
SELECTED
10. Rashid Al Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary McElhinney (IRL) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 - 2hr 46min 12.6sec
11. Saad Al Harqan (QAT)/Pierre Delorme (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 - 2hr 55min 35.6sec
