MERC Round 3 Jordan Rally — Al-Attiyah Makes History with 18th Jordan Win and 93rd MERC Career Victory

The Jordan Rally is the most iconic round of the Middle East Rally Championship. Special stages run along the cliffs above the Dead Sea — 430 metres below sea level — through the dry gravel of the Jordan Valley, and in heat that regularly exceeds 35 degrees Celsius. Ancient rock faces press close to the course edges, and the landscape carries a stark, arid beauty found nowhere else on the international rally calendar.

Al-Attiyah set fastest time from the opening stage and never looked back. Runner-up Hamza Bakhashab of Saudi Arabia suffered a double puncture on stage nine that cost him more than five minutes and temporarily dropped him from the top two, but he recovered to second. Third went to Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez of Kuwait and Lebanese co-driver Joseph Matar, who finished just 3.1 seconds ahead of fourth.

'Jordan is a special place for me,' Al-Attiyah said. 'Every win here brings me back to the first time I came.' Six Dakar overall victories, WRC starts, and 92 MERC wins: his career spans a range of disciplines and terrains that few drivers in the history of motorsport can match.

The MERC runs across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and other Gulf and Middle Eastern states — a regional championship that receives limited international coverage but maintains a high level of driver skill and passionate local followings. At its centre, still, is the overwhelming presence of Al-Attiyah.