leisure: Ready to rally
Power and pageantry
In 2008, Jordan became the first Arab country in 30 years (since Morocco in 1976) to host the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), providing a world-class event filled with all the power and pageantry expected from an international rally.
Jordan's inclusion in the 2008 calendar followed F1 in Bahrain, Moto GP in Qatar, A1 in Dubai and World Off-road Championships in the United Arab Emirates, and opened the door for the FIA and its stakeholders to 200 million Arab consumers.
However, the Jordan Rally was more directly the result of three years of hard work by Jordan Motorsport, led by HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, chairman of Jordan Motorsport, who had begun campaigning for the event in 2005 when he stood before the motorsporting world in Monte Carlo to declare that Jordan would bid to become a part of the FIA WRC.
Shortly after the WRC 2010 final, the FIA World Motor Sport Council announced the 13-round calendar for the 2011 World Rally Championship season, which will start in Sweden and end in Great Britain, with Jordan hosting for the third time on April 17, 2011. "We have worked hard in conjunction with the FIA to create a calendar that works not only in commercial terms for car manufacturers, teams and rally organisers but - crucially - one which delivers a platform for a diverse and competitive championship," says CEO of North One Sport, promoter of the FIA World Rally Championship, Simon Long.
"The 2011 calendar features a mix of the old and the new. A number of classic rallies will be returning to the series such as Italy, Argentina and Greece, joining more recent additions like the rounds in Mexico, Jordan and Portugal. This calendar provides an exciting blend of heritage events and new challenges, and an unrivalled geographical spread that takes in five continents," says Long.
Jordan is one of the 13 rallies confirmed on the calendar for 2011. As well as the aforementioned, the other hosts include Wales, Spain, Finland, France, Germany and Greece, offering contrasting driving surfaces ranging from gravel and tarmac to snow and ice.
2010 represented the second of a rotational two years for the FIA which has allowed the world governing body to look at all rallies capable of hosting the championship in order to draw up a definitive calendar for 2011 and beyond. Jordan proved to have a very successful hosting to secure its place as a permanent fixture in the calendar.
"It is a just reward for all the hard work that has been undertaken by Jordan over the last five years to be recognised as one of the world's great rallies in such a short space of time," says HRH Prince Feisal, chairman of Jordan Motorsport. "Jordan is willing to become a long-term partner for the WRC to work with its stakeholders and ensure it can return to the glory years that it once enjoyed. The coming years are going to be vital for the longevity of WRC and we will play whatever part we can to develop the sport as a whole in the long term."
Jordan's event proved an instant hit with the WRC due to its compact location in and around the Dead Sea. With a circuit that takes in many of the country's most outstanding sights, from the River Jordan to Wadi Shuaib, the country offers a unique and challenging rally route.
At 41 kilometres long, the Jordan River stage is one of the longest stages on the FIA WRC circuit and at 350 metres below sea level with a staggering number of twists and turns en route, it provides a demanding test to the world's very best drivers.
Running through 'no man's land' on the Jordan-Palestine border, Jordan River's path winds its way adjacent to one of the world's most historic waterways and boasts some of the most sensational scenery of any rally with cactus forests and date palm farms dissected along the way.
The Dead Sea hotels, as well as a variety of hotels in Amman and Madaba, will accommodate tourists and more than 2,000 people directly working on the event from overseas.
Jordan Motorsport has also made every effort to ensure that the event brings benefits to the local community. The specially built new rally stages have created link roads for Bedouin communities in previously isolated areas, opening up a host of new opportunities for the farmers and local families alike who are now connected comfortably to the main highways.
Meanwhile, the state-of-the-art Dead Sea Service Park, which houses the competing cars along with entertainment and cultural activities, can be used for a variety of purposes throughout the year, and already the local community comes out in force to use it as a sporting facility at weekends. The 50,000-square-metre venue has been developed with a view to becoming the long-term hub for the biggest sporting and social event ever to reach Jordan.
Numerous corporate sponsorship packages tied to the 2011 World Rally Championship will be on offer for companies interested in being a part of the event, and coupled with the dramatic scenery, five-star hotels and Jordan's many other attractions, the motorsport event creates a perfect incentive option.
