Jordan organisers hopeful of bumper entry

But that will depend to an extent on the outcome of this weekend's Oman International Rally.

The Muscat-based Oman event has made a return to the series for the first time since 1998 and 35 of the region's top drivers have entered. Jordanian rally organisers are hopeful of receiving many of these competitors in Amman in mid-May, but that may well depend upon any damage caused to their cars over the sinuous Omani special stages in the Hajar mountains.

'I am confident that many of the drivers taking part in Oman this weekend will come to Jordan next month,' said Rally Manager Ziad Louza. 'But everyone will be trying very hard this weekend to take championship points and accidents and breakages can and do happen.'

One of those drivers keen to return to the Jordan International Rally for the first time since the mid-1990s is Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum, an original member of Dubai's Victory Rally Team, who makes a sensational return to rallying this weekend in Oman. Suhail was one of the fastest drivers in the region for several years in a Group A Toyota Celica GT4 and has entered the Oman event in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6. He is planning to tackle the remaining rounds of the series, including the Jordan Rally.

Suhail and former Victory Team colleague Khalifa Al-Motaiwi provided the main competition for 14-times regional rally champion Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who won the Jordan Rally on 10 occasions with support from Marlboro. Al-Motaiwi is still competing in the FIA Cross-Country Rallies World Cup and finished second overall in last week's Rally of Tunisia in a BMW X5 Rallye-Raid.

Another driver making a dramatic return to the series is Oman's former Group N champion Nizar Al-Shanfari. He, like Britain's David Scialom and Oman's Tony Georgiou, is just one of several names who the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan will be hoping to attract for the Amman-based fourth round of the championship in May.

Cypriot Andreas Tsouloftas finished second overall in the Jordan International Rally last season and lists the event as one of his favourites. He collected eight points in Bahrain last month for finishing runner-up again and is hopeful of closing the gap on his series rivals in Oman and Jordan. Tsouloftas is confident that he will enter the Jordan Rally, although co-driver Andreas Achileos replaced regular partner Savvas Laos in Muscat this weekend.

'I think the stages in Jordan are excellent,' said Tsouloftas. 'And the new GPS tracking system will ensure that the stages to the south of Amman are tightly controlled. The sections around the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo are my favourites. They are like Cyprus and suit me down to the ground.'