· Al-Rawahi and Al-Kuwari finish second and third; Al-Zubair wins MERC2
· Qatar’s Rashid Al-Muhannadi secured the 2025 FIA MERC4 title
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 on Saturday,
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.
Al-Rawahi said: “It was a long two days for us. The first day was quite good, especially with the pace and we were very close to Nasser. Unfortunately, today we had some punctures and we lost some time. Overall, we are very happy with our performance. It has been the closest we have been to him in the battle.
“We don’t really have enough seat time in the car. After this rally I have three months off not really driving my car. My car is also an older generation and there is experience difference between me and Nasser. That is why it is good that he is in the championship. He helps us to push and get closer to him. It is still good. We wanted to win but we are still happy.”
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 Magalhāes in 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. Fellow countryman Zakariya Al-Aamri had arrived in Jordan with a 15-point lead over Al-Zubair but his rival’s success and fifth place overall has thrown the battle wide open with two rallies remaining. Al-Aamri finished second in the category and eighth overall.
Al-Zubair said: “We are happy with this result, It is a very difficult race. It is also very hot. It was our first time here. The first day we were flat out and won every stage. Today, we took it slow. We had a good lead and the strategy paid off.”
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.
Saturday - as is happened
A first pass through the iconic Panorama stage of 17.12km opened proceedings on the final morning. Palestine’s Hamada Uda was the only driver not to restart. Outside temperatures were already up to 31°C at the start of the stage with a peak of 37°C in the afternoon.
Surface cleaning was evident on the opener but Al-Attiyah laid down the gauntlet with a time of 11min 38.0sec. That smashed the existing stage record by six seconds.
Al-Rawahi dropped 32.3 seconds with tyre damage on a front-right wheel and that enabled Al-Attiyah to extend his lead to 45.8 seconds. Al-Kuwari was second quickest but remained a long way behind the leading duo. Al-Zubair continued to dominate MERC2 from sixth overall but Mohammed Al-Shorafa was in trouble and retired with broken steering.
The first pass through Suwayma was next on the itinerary. Al-Attiyah stopped the clocks in 5min 47.0sec and was able to extend his advantage over Al-Rawahi to 52.5 seconds with another stage win. Just half a second separated Al-Kuwari and Al-Rashed on the stage.
Wadi Nar was the last stage of the loop. Al-Attiyah made it a clean sweep of morning stage wins and headed for the midday service and regroup with an advantage over Al-Rawahi of 53.1 seconds. He beat the Omani by just six-tenths of a second in the special. Ihab Al-Shorafa lost over 30 minutes with mechanical issues in the ninth stage.
Al-Attiyah said. “The stages are really nice to drive. Just we need to be clever and not make a big push and make mistakes. It is easy to get a puncture here. We finish the three stages in the morning and the second loop should be better.”
Al-Rawahi said: “The first stage this morning we got a puncture and lost over 30 seconds. When you try to keep up and push this can happen sometimes. We were able to continue but the gap is bigger. It’s not impossible but it was closer before. Now we are trying to maintain our speed. We have three more stages to go.”
Al-Zubair continued to lead MERC2. He said: “It is going very well. Today is a very nice day, much faster and easier than yesterday. We are taking it quite safe. We have a good lead. That is the way to go today. The podium is the most important.”
Stage 10 was a re-run of Panorama and Al-Attiyah stopped the clocks in 11min 40sec to close in on a 17th win in Jordan. Al-Rawahi lost a minute to his rival with more bad luck and slipped 1min 54.9sec behind the Qatari. Al-Rashed beat Al-Kuwari by five seconds to claim the second quickest time.
Suwayma 2 was the penultimate stage of the event. Al-Attiyah increased his advantage by 7.1 seconds to 2min 02.0sec. Al-Rashed dropped over two minutes in the stage and retained fourth place.
There were no late dramas for Al-Attiyah in Wadi Nar and the Qatari continued to rewrite his own history with a stunning win and the fastest time on the event’s Power Stage to cap another successful weekend. His winning margin over Al-Rawahi was 2min 54.8sec.
This year's Jordan Rally is supported by Zain Jordan, Guarantee Travel Group, Hala and Bliss FM, Markazia and Toyota Gazoo Racing Jordan.
The FIA Middle East Rally Championship continues in Lebanon on September 5th-7th.
2025 Jordan Rally – positions after SS12 (unofficial @16.40hrs):
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
7. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Vili Oslaj (SLO) Škoda Fabia Rally 2 2hr 40min 34.9sec
8. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 2hr 41min 53.0sec
9. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT) 2hr 42min 10.2sec
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
12. Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2hr 59min 54.3sec
13. Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil (IND)/Musa Sherif (IND) Ford Fiesta Rally 4 3hr 03min 20.6sec
14. Jassim Al-Muqahwi (KUW)/Suleiman Al-Helal (KUW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3hr 04min 48.3sec
15. Ihab Al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR) Škoda Fabia Evo Rally 2 3hr 19min 46.1sec
16. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3hr 21min 25.6sec
17. Joanna Hassoun (LBN)/Sami Fleifel (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT) 3hr 50min 48.1sec*
*denotes not registered for the MERC
2025 Jordan National Rally 2 – result:
1. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 1hr 00min 18.3sec
2. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 05min 16.4sec
3. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Vili Oslaj (SLO) Škoda Fabia Rally 2 1hr 06min 52.5sec
4. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 1hr 10min 27.1sec
5. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT) 1hr 13min 22.6sec
6. Ihab Al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR) Škoda Fabia Evo Rally 2 1hr 46min 54.5sec, etc