Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah won all but one of the 12 gravel special stages on his way to a comfortable 17th victory in the Jordan Rally on Saturday afternoon.

The success took the Škoda Fabia RS driver to a record 90th career MERC rally win, as he closes in on an unprecedented 20th regional title since 2003. The new partnership with his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera has a 100% winning record with the duo now taking victories at the opening four rounds of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and now Jordan.

Al-Attiyah: “I am so happy to win again here in Jordan for the 17th time. This means a lot to me. This year we have won every rally so far. It feels like a good year, leading the Middle East Championship and leading the W2RC. For this rally, I will give it 10 out of 10. Today, we controlled the pace and tried to make a gap in case we had a puncture.”

Abdullah Al-Rawahi and his Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud maintained the pressure on the Qatari throughout day one but a time-consuming puncture delayed the Omani on Saturday’s opening Panorama stage and a second flat tyre on stage 10 proved too much for the 2023 regional champion. He finished second overall.

Al-Rawahi said: “It was a long two days for us. The first day was quite good, especially with the pace and we were very close to Nasser. Unfortunately, today we had some punctures and we lost some time. Overall, we are very happy with our performance. It has been the closest we have been to him in the battle.

“We don’t really have enough seat time in the car. After this rally I have three months off not really driving my car. My car is also an older generation and there is experience difference between me and Nasser.  That is why it is good that he is in the championship. He helps us to push and get closer to him. It is still good. We wanted to win but we are still happy.”

Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and his Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore tried different set-ups with their Citroën C3 but struggled to match the pace of the leading duo on this occasion. They did enough to round off the podium places.

Rakan Al-Rashed’s main target was to finish the event and the Saudi again teamed up with Portugal’s Hugo Magalhāes in a Jameel Motorsport Toyota GR Yaris. Cruelly, his Yaris sustained substantial damage after an accident on the penultimate stage and he was forced out. Lebanese driver Bassel Abu Hamdan and his co-driver Firas Elias benefitted from his demise to round off the top four in a Škoda Fabia.

Oman’s Abdullah Al-Zubair led the MERC2 field from start-to-finish with co-driver Taha Al-Tadjali to strengthen his push for the overall title. Fellow countryman Zakariya Al-Aamri had arrived in Jordan with a 15-point lead over Al-Zubair but his rival’s success and fifth place overall has thrown the battle wide open with two rallies remaining. Al-Aamri finished second in the category and eighth overall.

Al-Zubair said: “We are happy with this result. It is a very difficult race. It is also very hot. It was our first time here. The first day we were flat out and won every stage. Today, we took it slow. We had a good lead and the strategy paid off.”

Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya continued his run of consistent form to bring his Ford Fiesta to the Dead Sea finish in sixth with co-driver Ziad Chehab. That result was sufficient for the Qatari veteran to seal success in the inaugural FIA Master MERC Championship with two rounds to run.

The Jordanian duo of Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez and Shadi Shaban were classified in seventh and ninth overall.

Tenth place was sufficient for Rashid Al-Mohannadi to take victory over Saad Al-Harqan and Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil in the FIA MERC4 category and to seal the championship title in his Peugeot 208 with two rounds to spare.

The FIA Middle East Rally Championship continues in Lebanon on September 5th-7th.

2025 Jordan Rally – result after SS12:

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2                                   2hr 13min 47.7sec

2. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2                           2hr 16min 42.5sec

3. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Citroën C3 Rally 2                                      2hr 19min 01.3sec

4. Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA)/Firas Elias (LBN) Škoda Fabia R5 Rally 2                                    2hr 33min 25.3sec

5. Abdullah Al-Zubair (OMA)/Taha Al-Zadjali (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14                            2hr 37min 26.0sec

6. Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2                   2hr 38min 58.3sec

7. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Vili Oslaj (SLO) Škoda Fabia Rally 2                                        2hr 40min 34.9sec

8. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14             2hr 41min 53.0sec

9. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT)                                2hr 42min 10.2sec

10. Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary McElhinney (IRL) Peugeot 208 Rally 4                       2hr 46min 12.6sec

11. Saad Al-Harqan (QAT)/Pierre Delorme (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4                                                     2hr 55min 35.6sec

12. Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                                    2hr 59min 54.3sec

13. Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil (IND)/Musa Sherif (IND) Ford Fiesta Rally 4         3hr 03min 20.6sec

14. Jassim Al-Muqahwi (KUW)/Suleiman Al-Helal (KUW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X              3hr 04min 48.3sec

15. Ihab Al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR) Škoda Fabia Evo Rally 2                            3hr 19min 46.1sec

16. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                     3hr 21min 25.6sec

17. Joanna Hassoun (LBN)/Sami Fleifel (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT)                      3hr 50min 48.1sec*

*denotes not registered for the MERC