Al-Attiyah, Carrera look to continue perfect start to MERC season

DeadSea, Jordan: Nineteen time FIA Middle East Rally Champion Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and his Spanish co driver Candido Carrera will be aiming to exte...

Dead Sea, Jordan: Nineteen-time FIA Middle East Rally Champion Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera will be aiming to extend their perfect winning start to the season with victory in this weekend’s Jordan Rally. 

The fourth round of the regional rally series gets underway from the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan (RACJ) in Amman today. 

Al-Attiyah and Carrera are chasing a fourth successive win this season after victories in Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.While Carrera chases a maiden regional rally title, Al-Attiyah will be hoping that a staggering 90th MERC event win would also net him a record-breaking 17th success in the Hashemite Kingdom and yet another win with an Autotek-run Škoda Fabia RS.

The Qatari arrived in Amman from South Africa, via a brief pit stop in Doha, and has been mentally preparing himself in Amman away from the punishing heat at the Dead Sea. 

The team carried out a brief shakedown test on Tuesday afternoon, although the Qatari is aware that he has strong competition over a dozen challenging gravel stages in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas this weekend.