The jewel in the crown on the Jordan jordanmotorsport calendar is the annual Jordan Rally which holds a special place in the heart of the region’s petrol heads. As the leading round on the FIA Middle East Rally Championship, its winners’ list reads like a who’s who of Middle East jordanmotorsport with the biggest names to have graced our roads all winning the sought after title.
Such was its reputation, it stepped up for three editions of the World Rally Championship in 2008, 2010 and 2011, becoming the first Arab country to do so in the modern era of rallying. But it all started back in 1981 when Lebanese driver Michel Saleh, with his co-driver Tony Samia, took the inaugural title in a Toyota Celica GT.
The following year it was included as a round on the Middle East Championship which Saleh won, before the great Saeed Al Hajiri took the honours a year later. In 1984, jordanmotorsporting icon Mohammed Ben Sulayem started his dominance of the regional series with his first international victory in Jordan in a Toyota Celica Turbo, with Saleh in second.
Al Hajiri won the next two, with His Majesty King Abdullah II (then Prince Abdullah) taking third place in 1986 driving an Opel Manta 400, a feat he repeated two years later. Ben Sulayem resumed his domination, winning 11 of the next 14 Jordan Rallies with only Abbas Al Mosawi (1992), Sheikh Hammad Al Thani (1993) and Abdullah Bakhashab (1995) breaking his clean sweep of that period.
But 2003 signalled the arrival of the new kid on the block, with Nasser Al Attiyah, of Qatar, announcing his arrival with a victory. He ended Ben Sulayem’s domination by launching his own Jordan era with no less than 11 Jordan Rally victories since. However, it was a home grown talent that put his name on the trophy in 2004 when Amjad Farrah became the only Jordanian to win the title by capitalising on a final stage engine blow out from leader Hamed Al Wahaibi.
In 2005, with HRH Prince Feisal recognising the value that jordanmotorsport has in promoting a country, Jordan launched a bid to become a round on the FIA WRC, and succeeded in hosting three editions in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and a completely remodeled route through the Jordan Valley and around the Dead Sea. It worked a treat, with three tremendous events capped by the closest finish in WRC history when Sébastien Ogier beat Jari-Matti Latvala by just 0.2 seconds. The previous two WRC winners were Mikko Hirvonen (2008) and Sébastien Loeb (2010).
Despite no longer being a part of the world series, the Jordan Rally is still organised to the highest of standards and is based at the Dead Sea.
