MEDIA INFORMATION
JORDAN RALLY
May 29th-31st, 2025
2025 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), round 4
For immediate release
Tuesday, May 27th, 2025
JORDAN RALLY HEADS DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH RETURN TO RACJ START
- Car show at the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan to carry on Sunday’s Jordan Independence Day celebrations
AMMAN (JORDAN): Jordan Motorsport has announced that this weekend’s fourth round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) will start from the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan (RACJ) for the first time since the early 1990s.
The long-term headquarters for one of the most iconic off-road rallies in Asia will host the pre-event press conference (18.45hrs) and ceremonial start (19.15hrs) on Thursday evening at the club on the Seventh Circle in Amman.
Spectators and motor sport fans will also be treated to a display of drift cars and other machines at a car show organised at the RACJ to continue last Sunday’s Jordan Independence Day celebrations. This will officially get underway for the general public from 18.00hrs on Thursday.
The RACJ was rally headquarters for many years in the days when current FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem competed against the likes of the Victory Team’s Sheikh Suhail Al-Maktoum and Khalifa Al-Mutawei, Qatar’s Abbas Al-Mosawi and Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Bakhashab.
The decision to return to the event’s former headquarters comes at a time when the popularity of motor sport is on the rise in the Hashemite Kingdom and the region as a whole. Just over a month after a record entry took part in the Aqaba-based Jordan Baja, 22 crews are currently carrying out their recce for this weekend’s FIA event and will be joined by a further nine entered in the weekend’s two national rallies.
They will compete over 197.60 competitive kilometres in a route of 546.06km, which includes a new 32km opening stage at Tal Hilali on Friday morning (09.44hrs).
That features a small section of the former Bahath special in the Jordan Valley and precedes morning runs through a high-speed 11.08km stage at Karameh and a special at the Baptism Site (11.34km) close to the Dead Sea – the lowest place on earth.
The three stages will then be then repeated in the afternoon after a return to the Dead Sea for a midday regroup and service.
Saturday’s remaining three stages are repeated twice with action getting underway with a run though the Panorama stage (17.12km) from 09.09hrs. The first passes through the Suwayma (11.19km) and Wadi Nar (16.07km) complete the morning’s loop and the three timed tests are repeated in the afternoon before the post-event press conference and traditional ceremonial finish at the Dead Sea.
This year’s Jordan Rally is supported by Zain Jordan, Guarantee Travel Group, Hala and Bliss FM, Markazia and Toyota Gazoo Racing Jordan.
Ends
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