Jordan Motorsport flooded with late entries for the Jordan Baja 2024 (November 14th-16th)
Twenty cars, 12 motorcycles, four quads and competitors from 20 nations will line up at the seventh and penultimate round of both the FIA World Baja Cup and the FIM Bajas World Cup and round three of the FIA Middle East Cup next weekend (November 14th-16th).
All the leading title protagonists in the FIA World and Middle East Baja Cups will make the trip to southern Jordan. The Czech veteran Miroslav Zapletal and his Slovakian co-driver Marek Sykora head the field in their self-built Ford F-150 Evo.
But the main focus will be on the battle for the overall, Challenger and SSV titles in the FIA World Baja Cup and the overall, Challenger, SSV and Stock championships in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup. Nine crews will be chasing World Cup points and the other 11 will be targeting Middle East Cup success.
The eight-strong Challenger category features the front-running World Cup trio of Eduardo Pons, Khalid Al-Jafla and Diego Martinez, in addition to the Middle East quintet of Hamad Al-Harbi. Maha Al-Hamali, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah and Rashid Al-Muhannadi.
Overall FIA World Baja Cup leader Fernando Alvarez will face his closest rival João Ferreira, in addition to Amerigo Ventura, FIA Middle East Baja Cup leader Ahmed Al-Kuwari, João Dias and the Saudi duo of Ibrahim Al-Muhanna and Dania Akeel, the latter switching from a Toyota to a Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR on this occasion.
The Qatari duo of Abdullah Al-Rabban and Mohammed Al-Meer will tussle with the category-leading Saudi Majed Al-Thunayyan for Stock class honours.
The sixth round of the FIM Bajas World Cup is currently taking place in Portugal, where Mohammed Al-Balooshi is aiming to maintain his championship lead over Portuguese rivals David Megre and Pedro Bianchi Prata.
MX Ride Dubai’s Al-Balooshi (Yamaha) heads the motorcycle field in Jordan, where he faces competition from the likes of Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti (Husqvarna), local rider Abdullah Abu Aisheh (GasGas), Lebanon’s Rafic Eid (GasGas), Saudi rider Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (KTM) and Qatar-based Australian Martin Chalmers (GasGas).
Al-Balooshi’s brother Sultan will also make the trip to the Red Sea city of Aqaba to compete alongside Briton Steven Holt, Emirati Marwan Al-Rahmani and the Jordanian trio of Tia’at Al-Shishane, Hamza Al-Zawahreh and Abdullah Al-Batayneh.
Hani Al-Noumesi will head to the Hashemite Kingdom directly from this weekend’s Baja Oeste de Portugal. The Saudi claimed victory in the quad category at last weekend’s Qatar International Baja and is now in contention for the FIM title. Saudi rivals Haitham Al-Tuwaijri, Abdulaziz Al-Shayban and Abdulaziz Al-Atawi have also entered the Jordanian event on their Yamaha Raptors.
This year’s Jordan Baja is based out of the Hyatt Regency Aqaba Ayla Resort. Competitors will face 566.46 competitive kilometres through the stunning desert terrain on offer in the awe-inspiring Wadi Rum region in a compact route of 775.31km.
This year’s event is supported by Zain Jordan, Jordan Kuwait Bank, Can-Am, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC), Aqaba Cruise Terminal (part of AD Ports Group), Guarantee Travel Group, Hala and Bliss FM.
