Khaled Juma races to Samarah Rally win

By Roufan Nahhas - Apr 02,2016 - Last updated at Apr 02,2016

Winners and administrative officials on the podium of the Jordan Rally Championship ‘Samarah Rally’ at the Dead Sea area on Friday (Photo courtesy of Jordan Motorsport)

DEAD SEA — Khaled Juma on Friday was crowned champion of the first round of the Jordan Rally Championship “Samarah Rally” held with the participation of eight drivers at the Dead Sea area.

With this win, Khaled Juma and co-driver Emad Juma added 25 precious points after clocking 47m28s in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7, followed by Salameh Qamaz and co-driver Ahmed Zeidan (50m16s) in their Mitsubishi Evo 5 and Basheer Azar and co-driver Mohammed Azarbeh (54m10s) in their Subaru Impreza.

Meanwhile, Raed Habaybeh and daughter/co-driver Marina settled for fourth place (1h45s).

Juma who reigned over all stages of the rally expressed his happiness and satisfaction with winning this season’s opener.

“It was a challenging event and at the same time a big lesson to learn before the Jordan Rally in May. The stages were exciting and very challenging and now it is time to focus on the next event,” he said.

Only five out of eight drivers reached the finish line in the event which witnessed a cancellation of the first stage (Panorama 1) due to an accident where driver Ehab Shurafa hit a sewage cover and flipped his car, but walked away uninjured.

Othman Naseef, Jordan Motorsport CEO, said: “Our main concern is the safety of everyone and that is why we decided to cancel Stage 1 in order to be safe.

“It was a very challenging event and a final rehearsal for the big event in May.”

“All preparations are set for the Jordan Rally which is expected to attract the best drivers in the region and we also hope Jordanian drivers will be able to participate and compete in this round of the Middle East Rally Championship,” he added.