Rally championship returns to the forests

AMMAN — The Jordan Rally Championship heads to the northern forests for round three on Friday with many of the Kingdom’s top drivers entered for what promises to be a thrilling event.

With championship leader Marouf Abu Samra sitting out Friday’s event, a host of drivers will be looking to secure points to set the series up nicely going into the final two rounds.

Khalid Juma, accompanied by Imad Juma, will lead the cars off on Friday in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10, with Oman’s youngster, Abdullah Al Rawahi, sitting second in the championship, posing his biggest threat in a Subaru Impreza with Jordanian Ata Al Hmoud as co-driver. Crowd favourites Ihab Al Shurafa and Salameh Al Gammaz are also on the entry list which consists of nine teams.

The day will get under way from 10:30am with a ramp start at the Royal Automobile Club (RACJ) before cars tackle the first of two morning runs of the 15.39km Salhoub stage at 11:03am. In the afternoon, there will be two runs of the popular 15.46km Rumman stage, making a total competitive distance of 61.7km. The podium will take place back at the RACJ at 4pm.