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Rawahi wins third round of Jordan National Rally

31 Jul 2021 By ASHOK PUROHIT

Top-seeded and former winner Abdullah al Rawahi secured a morale-boosting win in the third round of the Jordan National Rally Championship 2021 near Dead Sea in Jordan, on Friday.

Teaming up with his experienced and long-time co-driver Ata al Hmoud of Jordan, the duo claimed the title in their Subaru Impreza ST1 N14 nearly two and a half minutes ahead of Jordanian duo of Youssef al Asmar and Nabil Kayyal, also in a Subaru Impreza.

The championship featured a competitive grid of 13 cars and 11 of them finished the rally.  Rawahi dominated the rally winning all the four stages to win the rally in a time of 40.39 minutes. 

The first stage at Nebo was over a distance of 9.7km and after winning the stage one, there was no stopping Rawahi and Hmoud as they claimed the SS2 (16.97km), SS3 (9.7km) and the final SS4 Main stage (16.97.2km). The total distance of the rally was 166.59km that featured gravel stages for 53.34km.

Speaking after the win, Rawahi said, “I’m delighted to win in Jordan along with my co-driver Ata [al Hmoud]. After my disappointment during the Jordan Rally in the Middle East Rally Championships (MERC) in May [engine breakdown], I was determined to come back and get a good result here.

“It is a great feeling to have achieved it. A victory in a rally outside Oman is full of challenges. To overcome it with a top position is definitely I will cherish for a long time.”

The 24 year old Oman’s rally star added, “The rally in Jordan offers a difficult challenge as the terrain is very different around the Dead Sea area, especially in Nebo. I am proud to fly the flag of sultanate high and I hope to bring further glory for the sultanate.”

The Jordanian pair of Ameer Nassif and Musa Djiyerian in Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X claimed the third position.

Rawahi and Hmoud were overall Jordan National Rally champions in 2019 and the duo was seeded No 1 for this round.

It was a nice comeback for Rawahi after he retired during the Jordan Rally MERC due to a to a broken engine earlier in May.

The third round of Jordan National Rally featured quite a few former champions  including Asmar and Khaled Juma, who was forced to retire on Friday. 

Jordan’s Shadi Shaban, who finished fourth in the MERC Jordan Rally 2021, also finished fourth on Friday. 

Tareq al Taher and Samer Issa rounded off the top-five positions. Former Jordan champion Ihab al Shorafa with his co-driver Yousef Jumaa, came eighth.

 

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