Dead Sea, Jordan – Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and co-driver Candido Carrera stormed to a dominant victory at the Jordan Rally on Saturday, winning all 12 special stages, while Oman’s Abdullah Al Rawahi secured a comfortable second place to complete a strong weekend for the Oman Rally Team.

 Al Attiyah, driving an Autotek Motorsport Skoda Fabia RS, won each of the dozen special stages in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas to repeat a clean sweep of stage wins that he last achieved in 2016.

The winning margin on his record-breaking 18th victory in Jordan was 3min 53.7sec and it moved him into a slender championship lead.

Al Rawahi and Ata Al Hmoud were never troubled for the runner-up spot in their Oman Rally Team Škoda Fabia RS. The decision to run medium compound tyres for the first three stages on Friday was a mistake and Al Rawahi did pick up a puncture on the first pass through Rawda on Saturday. Otherwise, he shadowed Al Attiyah from the start to pick up valuable points for second place.

Al Rawahi said: “Jordan is always a tough rally, especially because we are at the lowest point on earth. Let’s not forget that. It’s always hot. It’s not always easy with long stages and a lot of corners when it is very slippery. We tried to push but I gained a lot of experience from this rally so we can come back and do better next time.”

Saudi Arabia’s Hamza Bakhashab took the last spot on the podium.

The Omani duo of Zakariya Al Aamri and Mohammed Al Mazroui earned maximum MERC2 points for rounding off the top 10 in a Subaru Impreza.

Al Amri and his co-driver Mohammed Al Mazroui also faced problems on the first day during the second stage of the rally. Driving a Subaru Impreza, Al Amri managed to complete all stages of the rally to finish in second place in the MERC 2.

Al Amri said: “First of all, I’m happy to have finished the rally in second place in the MERC 2 class. It was a difficult rally from the very first day; we faced technical issues with the car.

“We tried every possible way to complete the rally and earn more points, and despite the circumstances we faced, we were able to complete the journey to the end and climbed onto the podium in the class, earning valuable points and securing first-place points in the class for this rally in the overall championship standings.

“I thank Al Fayha Real Estate Development for their support in this rally, and we will continue the championship, God willing, and seek supporters and sponsors to contribute to help us complete the championship,” Al Amri added.