OMAN RALLY TEAM – MEDIA INFORMATION   

JORDAN RALLY 
2025 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), round 4

For immediate release
Friday, May 30th, 2025

OMAN RALLY TEAM’S AL-RAWAHI HOLDS SECOND PLACE AT THE JORDAN RALLY  

DEAD SEA (JORDAN): Oman Rally Team star Abdullah Al-Rawahi delivered one of the best performances of his career on the first day of the Jordan Rally.

After six demanding gravel stages in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas, the Autotek Škoda Fabia driver trailed the 19-time FIA Middle East champion Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah by just 13.5 seconds. This was despite a slow puncture towards the end of the fourth stage.

Al-Rawahi and his Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud are bidding to win the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) title for a second time, as well as trying to win the event in Jordan once again. The performance today also netted them the win in the opening round of the Jordan National Championship.

At the end of a dramatic day, where Al-Attiyah and Al-Rawahi were the class of the entire field, Al-Rawahi said: “I think this rally overall is very tough and it is not easy to challenge Nasser over these stages. He has won it 16 times. Being just behind him and able to take some time, I am above happy. Tomorrow, is another day. We must also remember that I have an older car. I think we should be happy with the result today. I think we are on the limit. I don’t think we can push any harder and we don’t want mistakes.”

Al-Rawahi was in scintillating form on the opening loop of three stages where he was more than a match for the road-sweeping Al-Attiyah. The duo was separated by just 0.6 seconds on the 32km opening speed test at Tal Hilali and then by a mere one-tenth of a second on stage two. But Al-Rawahi was faster than his Qatari rival on the third stage of the loop at the historic Baptism Site and edged into a slender 0.8-second lead at the midday point.

Al-Rawahi said: “It was a good day for us so far. The stages are quite tough and very tricky. We had a few moments but the times are good overall and we are leading after the first loop. I think we just need to keep focused and try to do our best. We need to be very consistent with our performance. You have no other choice but to go flat out. This afternoon, the same.”

The Oman Rally Team has backing from Al-Manar Investments, the Oman Automobile Association, WMS, Zamakan, OQ, Strike, Size, the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture of Oman and National Finance.

Saturday’s remaining three stages are repeated twice with action getting underway with a run though the Panorama stage of 17.12km. The first passes through the Suwayma and Wadi Nar specials complete the morning’s loop. The three timed tests are repeated in the afternoon before the post-event press conference and traditional ceremonial finish at the Dead Sea.

2025 Jordan Rally – positions after SS6 (unofficial:

  1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 1hr 16min 10.7sec
  2. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2 1hr 16min 24.2sec
  3. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Citroën C3 Rally 2                                                                                                                    1hr 18min 29.6sec
  4. Rakan Al-Rashed (KSA)/Hugo Magalhães (POR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 1hr 23min 46.9sec
  5. Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA)/Firas Elias (LBN) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2                                                                                                                    1hr 27min 24.3sec
  6. Abdullah Al-Zubair (OMA)/Taha Al-Zadjali (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 1hr 27min 43.4sec
  7. Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2 1hr 28min 01.5sec
  8. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT) 1hr 28min 47,6sec
  9. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 1hr 31min 25.9sec
  10. Ihab Al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR) Škoda Fabia Evo Rally 2 1hr 32min 51.6sec
  11. Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary McElhinney (IRL) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 1hr 32min 57.0sec
  12. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Vili Oslaj (SLO) Škoda Fabia Rally 2                                                                                                                    1hr 33min 42.4sec
  13. Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                                                                                                    1hr 45min 00.1sec
  14. Jassim Al-Muqahwi (KUW)/Suleiman Al-Helal (KUW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 46min 32.3sec, etc

Ends

 

 

 

Published On: 30 May 2025