Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah has another of Mohamed bin Sulayem’s records in his sights when he heads the line-up of drivers for the Jordan Rally from May 5-7.


Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel celebrate their recent Sealine rally win.

The Qatari Skoda driver and reigning FIA Middle East rally champion will start as overwhelming favourite for his 10th Jordan Rally victory, which would bring him to within two of fellow multiple regional champion Bin Sulayem.
Al-Attiyah has dominated the regional scene over the past 14 years, and he recently passed Bin Sulayem’s record of 60 regional championship wins. He is not showing signs of easing up yet either, having recently declared he would like to reach 100 wins.
Al-Attiyah and Bin Sulayem are in fine company when it comes to the Jordan Rally honours’ list. While both are streets ahead when it comes to the number of victories, there is no doubting the calibre of drivers who have also stood on the winners’ podium.
During the 1980s, big names like Michel Saleh (Lebanon) and Saeed al-Hajri (Qatar) recorded five wins between them with Bin Sulayem’s first coming in 1984, while the following decade saw wins for Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah al-Bakhashab, as well as Qataris, Abbas al-Musawi and Sheikh Hamad bin Eid al-Thani.
Since then, the likes of Khaled al-Qassimi (UAE), Rashid al-Ketbi (UAE) and Yazeed al-Rajhi (Saudi Arabia) have disrupted al-Attiyah’s winning sequence: the Qatari recorded his first Jordan win in 2003 and has won the past four events. Bin Sulayem’s wins came from 1984-2002.
But the most popular win for local rally fans came in 2004 when countryman Amjad Farrah recorded a dramatic last stage victory to remain the only Jordanian ever to have won the event.
Of course you can’t talk about past winners without looking at those three memorable FIA World Rally Championships that were held in Jordan in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
Mikko Hirvonen picked up the first Jordan WRC title, followed by the great Sébastien Loeb and, finally, Sébastien Ogier. Organisers Jordan Motorsport hope that this list will be added to in years to come should the WRC decided to return to the region.
The Jordan Rally gets underway with a special spectator event in Abdali on May 5 from 2pm. This will be followed by two days of exhilarating action in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas culminating with a finish on the evening of May 7.