Three rounds, three winners and a whole lot of drama: the race for the 2011 World Rally Championship crown is proving to be an epic and makes its next stop on the punishing stages of the Middle East for round four, the Jordan Rally.
Based at the Dead Sea resort south of the capital Amman, the event joined the WRC trail in 2008 and plays host to the global series for the third time this year.
Posing a huge challenge for the crews, who will tackle undulating rock-strewn stages in scorching ambient temperatures approaching 40 degrees centigrade, the Jordan Rally, which enjoys the full patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Feisal Al Hussein, is much more than a round of the WRC.
With the event passing by several of the country’s national treasures, visitors to the rally can savour famous attractions such as the Baptism Site, the Jordan River and Mount Nebo, while the ceremonial start will again be located in the ancient city of Jerash, considered one of the largest and best preserved examples of Roman architecture in the world.
Uniquely, the majority of the stages take place up to 400 metres below sea level and the Saturday afternoon finish has been timetabled to take into account the Islamic weekend.
The competitive route is largely unchanged from 2010 although there have been some tweaks. The Rumman Forest stage, based close to the start in Jerash, has been removed from the itinerary for logistical reasons, while the twisty Ma’in stage returns for the first time since 2008, albeit using new roads that will take competitors from below sea level through to 600 metres above.
Organisers have selected the Baptism Site for the Power Stage, which is made for live television and awards bonus points for the fastest three drivers. The 10.5-kilometre test is preceded by a regroup where the running order will be altered to ensure the leading crews tackle the stage in reverse.
Road position will be a huge factor in Jordan with drivers anxious to avoid running too far up the order on the first passes of stages due to the effect of road cleaning. Although the stages typically feature a compact and hard base, loose surface gravel hinders braking and grip levels and can result in significant time loss. Indeed, such was the desire to avoid running first on the road during last year’s event that teams became engaged in an elaborate - and controversial - tactical battle.
The purpose-built service park is located overlooking the Dead Sea and the Palestinian Hills and is in walking distance from the event’s plush headquarters, the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre.
As well as counting as round four of the WRC, the Jordan Rally marks round two of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, while a Middle East championship-counting event runs on the back of the main WRC contest.
The Jordan Rally consists of 20 special stages over a competitive distance of 333 kilometres.
Who’s going to win?
Thirteen new-generation World Rally Cars will be in action in Jordan and with Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Loeb tied at the top of the drivers’ standings, the battle for glory will be intense.
Hirvonen, at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, starts day one first on the road by virtue of winning the season-opening Rally Sweden. But with Loeb running just behind in his Citroen DS3 WRC, the Frenchman is unlikely to make the level of progress he managed on the previous rounds in Mexico and Portugal.
It means drivers starting further down the order, such as Vodafone Rally de Portugal winner Sebastien Ogier and ex-world champion Petter Solberg, could make huge inroads on day one. Ogier, in the second factory DS3, impressed in Jordan last season and would have challenged for a podium had he not been forced to take a time penalty to aid Loeb’s road position.
Jari-Matti Latvala is the only driver to have finished on the podium on the opening three rounds and will be a contender once again in his works Fiesta. Mads Ostberg, in an M-Sport Stobart Fiesta, will also be a threat although the young Norwegian concedes his lack of knowledge of the Middle East stages will count against a repeat of the podium he bagged in Sweden.
Ostberg’s team-mates Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson will be out to score more points in their Fiestas. Wilson was a strong fifth in Portugal, while Solberg celebrates his 100th start at world championship level.
Ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen is back on WRC duty after flying to the USA at the start of the week to complete his first test ahead of his planned NASCAR Truck Series debut in May. The Ice 1 Racing driver has scored points on his two appearances so far this season.
With regular co-driver Frederic Miclotte competing on a clashing rally in the Canary Islands, Dennis Kuipers has recruited Bjorn Degandt to deputise in his FERM Power Tools World Rally Team Fiesta.
Other Fiesta drivers include Munchi’s pilot Federico Villagra, from Argentina, and Team Abu Dhabi’s Khalid Al Qassimi. The former Middle East champion has extensive experience of the Jordanian stages and is more than capable of adding to his points tally.
Peter van Merksteijn Jr starts his second event in his Van Merksteijn Motorsport DS3, while Daniel Oliveira continues his and MINI’s world championship initiation with his Brazil World Rally Team-run John Cooper Works Super 2000.
Eight crews will contest the SWRC, including multiple Middle East champion Nasser Al-Attiyah in a Ford Fiesta S2000 and local hero Ammar Hijazi, who drives a Skoda Fabia S2000. Visit Wrc.com on Monday for a full SWRC preview.
On this rally last year
Another Sebastien Loeb victory masked the true story of the Jordan Rally in 2010 as the leading teams took deliberate time penalties to manipulate the starting order to avoid running first on the road.
Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala profited from his starting position to lead after day one but was swept aside by Loeb on day two. To prevent the Frenchman running first on the road on Sunday, Sebastien Ogier was ordered to start ahead of schedule on day three.
While the young star incurred a stack of time penalties, he was able to clean the road for his illustrious Citroen team-mate, whose victory was the second of eight achieved last season.
Mikko Hirvonen was out of sorts in the second works Focus, struggling on day one before breaking his car’s suspension bashing an earth bank on day two.
Did you know?
As part of their efforts to land a slot on the WRC schedule, Jordan Rally organisers recruited the country’s army to help create purpose-built stages. And to ensure a compact surface, they coated the roads in water from the Dead Sea.