Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera won all six demanding special stages to move into a commanding lead after the first leg of the Jordan Rally on Friday.
The Autotek Motorsport Skoda Fabia RS driver was in a class of his own on the third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) and had built up an advantage of 1min 12.8sec at the night halt.
The leading Qatari said: “It was a good feeling all day and we won every stage. We have a good gap now, a good lead. Now we try to keep going like this. We pushed from the morning and we took a good time. We managed the times this afternoon and will try and do the same tomorrow. We sent the data to the engineer just to check everything is okay.”
Stages were held in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas, but Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Ata Al-Hmoud admitted that their choice of medium tyres was a mistake for the opening loop of three stages in their Oman Rally Team Skoda Fabia RS. The Omani trailed Al-Attiyah by 51.4 seconds at the midday regroup and was unable to grab any time back in the afternoon.
Al-Rawahi said: “We took the wrong tyre choice this morning. We went with the medium compound. We knew it was going to be a risk and we kind of lost the grip after the first stage. We wanted to take the risk. We knew it was going to work or go bad!”
Saudi Arabia’s Hamza Bakhashab is tackling a first full programme of MERC rallies in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 supported by Jameel Motorsport. He and Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore settled into a comfortable third position.
Bakhashab said: “Very fun day and an amazing pace. I beat my record for Baptism. I had a 6.05 in mind and I got a 6.02. Lorcan did a great job. It’s good to have my father (Abdullah) here. We just keep going now for tomorrow.”
is
Jordan’s Shaker Jweihan was the dominant force in MERC2 at the first two rounds in the winter and opened his account on home gravel in similar fashion with Mustafa Juma in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. He managed his pace perfectly to conserve the car, avoided rocks thrown on to the racing line by the Rally2 cars running ahead and held fifth place.
A battle waged behind for much of the day between Saudi Arabia’s Bassel Abu Hamdan (Volkswagen) and local star Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (Skoda). Hamdan and Firas Elias got the better of the Jordanian and his experienced co-driver Joseph Matar to hold the advantage at the night halt, the Saudi managing to pass Jweihan and grab fourth in stage six.
One of the drives of the day came from Palestine’s Hamadeh Uda. He teamed up with Zeid Abu Zeid in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and climbed to seventh place.
Mohammed Al-Marri had the bragging rights over Qatari team-mate Rashid Al-Muhannadi in the battle between the two Peugeot 208 Rally 4s entered by the QMMF. Al-Marri finished the day eighth ahead of the Jordanian duo of Shadi Shaban and Samer Issa. Al-Muhannadi was 11th.
The championship-leading Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya and his Lebanese co-driver Ziad Chehab suffered brake issues from the outset and a scare when they nearly ended up in a wadi. They struggled to match the pace of their title rivals all day and slumped to 10th position.
Mohammed Al-Shorafa and Samer Sfeir completed the day in 12th in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Oman’s Zakariya Al-Aamri had no answer to Jweihan’s speed in MERC2 but the Omani settled into a safe pace to hold 13th overall with co-driver Mohammed Al-Mazroui. The Jordanian duo of Sami Fleifel and Issa Abu Jamous trailed in his wake.
Farah Zakaria was the last of the classified FIA runners in 16th with Dolyne Schlink in a Can-Am Maverick X3. Lebanon’s Shadi El-Fakih retired his Renault Clio RS on the fifth stage with technical issues.
Al-Rawahi’s scant consolation for losing out to Al-Attiyah was a comfortable victory in the second round of the Jordan National Rally Championship. He finished over five minutes clear of runner-up Bassel Abu Hamdan and round one winner Jweihan.
Karim Badawi retired his Suzuki on the opening stage and was soon joined by Fadi Dahshan’s Mitsubishi. Bader Al-Helalat (Mitsubishi) followed them out of the reckoning in stage three.
Saturday
Tomorrow’s schedule consists of two runs through the Panorama (16.95km), Suwayma (11.12km) and Rawda (26.97km) specials before the ceremonial finish takes place in the HoverUp Park to the north of the Dead Sea from 18.30hrs.
The second pass through Rawda will also act as the Power Stage with additional points available for the fastest crews.
2026 Jordan Rally – positions after SS6 (unofficial):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2 59min 39.8sec
2. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Skoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 1hr 00min 52.6sec
3. Hamza Bakhashab (KSA)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 1hr 02min 34.8sec
4. Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA)/Firas Elias (LBN) Volkswagen Polo Rally 2 1hr 05min 53.6sec
5. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Mustafa Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 05min 57.4sec
6. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Joseph Matar (LBN) Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2 1hr 07min 58.5sec
7. Hamadeh Uda (PLE)/Zeid Abu Zeid (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 09min 51.1sec*
8. Mohammed Al-Marri (QAT)/Pierre Delorme (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 1hr 10min 52.0sec
9. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 11min 19.0sec*
10. Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2 1hr 12min 54.2sec
11. Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Florian Barral (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 1hr 12min 57.3sec
12. Mohammed Al-Shorafa (JOR)/Samer Sfeir (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 13min 44.7sec
13. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 1hr 14min 10.2sec
14. Sami Fleifel (JOR)/Ameer Nassif (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 15min 30.0sec
15. Issa Abu Jamous (JOR)/Daoud Abu Jamous (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 15min 33.4sec
16. Farah Zakaria (JOR)/Dolyne Schlink (LBN) Can-Am Maverick X3 1hr 18min 12.3sec
Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Renault Clio RS Rally 5 RETIRED – SS5
*denotes not registered for the MERC
2026 Jordan National Rally – round 2 result (unofficial):
1. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Skoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 1hr 00min 52.6sec
2. Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA)/Firas Elias (LBN) Volkswagen Polo Rally 2 1hr 05min 53.6sec
3. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Mustafa Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 05min 57.4sec
4. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Joseph Matar (LBN) Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2 1hr 07min 58.5sec
5. Hamadeh Uda (PLE)/Zeid Abu Zeid (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 09min 51.1sec
6. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 11min 19.0sec*
7. Mohammed Al-Shorafa (JOR)/Samer Sfeir (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 13min 44.7sec
8. Sami Fleifel (JOR)/Ameer Nassif (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 15min 30.0sec
9. Issa Abu Jamous (JOR)/Daoud Abu Jamous (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 15min 33.4sec
10. Hashem Kalbouneh (JOR)/Dergham Rustom (JOR) Subaru Impreza 1hr 17min 17.4sec
11. Farah Zakaria (JOR)/Dolyne Schlink (LBN) Can-Am Maverick X3 1hr 18min 12.3sec
12. Ala Daabes (JOR)/Salameh Gammaz (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 18min 31.2sec
13. Sader Abu Jamous (JOR)/Fayez Gammaz (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 1hr 20min 35.3sec
14. Nancy Al-Madjali (JOR)/Yajan Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 1hr 21min 02.0sec
15. Saif Al-Shaikh (JOR)/Emad Juma (JOR) Subaru Impreza STi 1hr 26min 23.2sec
16. Asem Aref (JOR)/Musa Djiyerian (JOR) Subaru Impreza 1hr 27min 52.2sec
17. Yara Takriti (JOR)/Abeer Janakat (JOR) Can-Am Maverick X3 2hr 15min 37.3sec
Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Renault Clio RS Rally 5 RETIRED – SS5
Bader Al-Helalat (JOR)/Amer Mousa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI RETIRED – SS3
Fadi Dahshan (JOR)/Ahmad Jankout (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX RETIRED – after SS1
Karim Badawi (JOR)/Walid Shabsogh (JOR) Suzuki Samurai Prototype RETIRED – SS1
