2005 Jordan Rally - 5-7 May 05

Posted: June 16, 2005 12:48 PM

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17/05/05
FIA OBSERVERS REPORT BOOST FOR JORDAN RALLY
"We are on the right track to FIA WRC": HRH Prince Feisal Al-Hussein

Amman, Jordan: Jordan's ambitious drive to becoming a future round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) received a huge boost last night with the publication of the official FIA Observer's Report on the 2005 Jordan Rally.

While identifying areas to be developed, the Report demonstrated that the 2005 event was a big improvement on the previous year and has underlined its reputation as the leading round on the FIA Middle East Rally Championship.

"A lot of hard work went in to organizing the 2005 Jordan Rally and the Report shows that we are on the right track towards achieving our goal of becoming a future round of the FIA WRC," said HRH Prince Feisal Al-Hussein.

"However, it is important that we continue to look at those areas where we need to develop to ensure that by 2006, our FIA Middle East Championship round is up to the high standards expected of the FIA if we are to be considered as a candidate for WRC."

Jordan welcomed two FIA observers for the first time instead of the usual one following the announcement earlier this year of its FIA WRC initiative, and their findings have given the organizers plenty of confidence going into the tough 12 months ahead.

The observers looked at 205 aspects of the rally and graded them between one to five. 'One' being exceptional and 'five' being unacceptable.

Jordan even received a 'one' for its government relations, a score that is virtually unheard of in the FIA Middle East Championship. It also received 25 in the 'two' category, 20 more than last year, and 147 in the 'three' category. The observers identified 31 areas in the 'four' category that need to be improved and brought up to standard. There were no 'fives' recorded.

"We can take a lot of encouragement from this report," said Tarek Tabba'a, General Manager of Jordan Motorsport which organizes and manages the Jordan Rally. "It was a team effort that we should all be proud of. While we can take credit from the areas we excelled in, we must pull together over the coming months to address those aspects of the rally which need improving. The work for 2006 has already begun and will continue unabated."

The Jordan Rally, held from May 5-7, attracted 35 starters from 13 countries. It also welcomed 207 accredited media from 26 countries including 15 television crews. A record for the regional championship.

The event was supported by the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, Greater Amman Municipality, Higher Council for Youth, Royal Jordanian and Jordan Tourism Board while Fast Link (Official Network Provider) Power Horse (Official Energy Drink), Chery International (Official Car), Marriott (Official Hotel), were sponsors.

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08/05/05
UNSTOPPABLE NASSER AL-ATTIYAH/CHRIS PATTERSON TAKE EMPHATIC VICTORY IN JORDAN RALLY
UAE's Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum wins duel for second place; Third overall for Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi/Michael Orr; Jordanian honours for Marouf Abu Samra

AMMAN (Jordan): Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Ulster co-driver Chris Patterson clinched victory in the 2005 Jordan Rally and continued their march towards a second FIA Middle East Rally Championship title in three years. The Subaru duo are now unbeaten in the regional series since last September, after reaching the finish of the 19-stage event 3m 49s minutes ahead of Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum and Lebanese co-driver Ahmed Ghaziri, today (Saturday).

"This is always a long and difficult rally," said Al-Attiyah. "But it was another great result for me and good practice for the WRC rally in Cyprus next week. My team were fantastic and we had no major problems with the car. Now I am in a very strong position in the championship with 50 points and five wins."

The UAE's Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi and Ulster co-driver Michael Orr finished third overall in their Power Horse-supported Subaru Impreza WRX STi, after an epic duel with their UAE team mates and Lebanon's Abdo Feghali took fourth place in the leading Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Saudi Arabia's Ahmed Al-Sabban leapt to fourth in the championship with fifth overall and Cypriot Andreas Tsouloftas completed the top six.

"It was a really intense fight between Suhail (Khalifa) and myself for second place," said Al-Qassimi. "Suhail complained that he had too hard a tyre compound this morning and I was running with no anti-lag system. It was a computer problem, but it caused me to brake very late on a corner in SS14 and I lost about half a minute. There were never more than a handful of seconds between us. It was a great battle."

Thirty-three cars left the start in Amman on Thursday evening and, with the exception of the UAE's Rashid Al-Ketbi, Qatar's Khalifa Al-Attiyah and Bahrain's Hassan Al-Sadadi, all of Friday's major retirements restarted Saturday morning's 10 special stages around Rumman and the Dead Sea and on to the finish at the King Hussain Gardens in Amman. Sadadi withdrew in protest at the controversial Super Rally system, which saw him demoted from eighth overall to starting 14th on the road this morning once first leg retirements were reinstated.

Al-Attiyah was again first out of the starting blocks today, setting fastest time in the opening three stages of the leg to extend his lead to over three minutes. Al-Qassimi regained second position from Al-Maktoum and the pair traded seconds throughout the morning. Jordan's Amjad Farrah - running again under the Super Rally rules - lost nine minutes in SS11 with mechanical problems. He was down in 17th position after SS15, but Jordanian countrymen Faris Bustami and Marouf Abu Samra were running in ninth and 10th places and Abu Samra eventually finished as the leading Jordanian.

Kuwaiti 1600 front-runner Meshal Al-Nejadi joined Nancy Al-Majali, Raed Bdeir and Ahmad Mihyar on the growing list of retirements and handed the 1600 spoils to Kuwait's Shaker Al-Raeis.

Al-Attiyah extended his lead in the first Rumman stage, as Al-Qassimi closed to within 0.6s of Al-Maktoum for second position. For the third successive event the UAE team mates were embroiled in a thrilling tussle and Al-Qassimi moved into a two-second lead through the Wadi Shueub stage. The fight for the runner-up spot was settled in Al-Maktoum's favour over the final stage. He was beaten by Al-Qassimi by 15.8 seconds in SS18, but beat the defending champion by 25 seconds in the final timed test.

This year's Jordan Rally attracted a total of 207 accredited media and no less than 15 television networks. It is one of the candidate rounds for future inclusion in the FIA World Rally Championship and was observed by FIA officials on this occasion, where it lines up against candidate events in Portugal, South Africa and, potentially, China, Poland and Ireland.

This year's event was supported by the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, Greater Amman Municipality, Higher Council for Youth, Royal Jordanian and Jordan Tourism Board, Power Horse (Official Energy Drink), Chery International (Official Car), Marriott (Official Hotel) and Fast Link (Official Network Provider).

Positions after SS19 (unofficial top 7 only):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Chris Patterson (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 31m 23.4s
2. Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum (UAE)/Ahmad Ghaziri (RL) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 35m 12.6s
3. Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Michael Orr (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 35m 19.2s
4. Abdo Feghali (RL)/Joseph Feghali (RL) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 2h 41m 22.3s
5. Ahmed Al-Sabban (KSA)/Killian Duffy (IRL) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 42m 06.3s
6. Andreas Tsouloftas (CY)/Ioannis Evripidoy (CY) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7 2h 43m 31.5s
7. Marouf Abu Samra (HKJ)/Malek Hariri (HKJ) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 2h 53m 45.6s

• 2005 FIA Middle East Rally Championship