Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, the most accomplished Middle Eastern driver in history, leads the entry list for next weekend's Jordan Rally, round two of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship.

The current series leader and 13-time Jordan competition winner return to the Hashemite Kingdom after a tight victory in the Andalucia Rally in Spain. On this occasion, he and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel return to a trusted Volkswagen Polo GTi, which Autotek Motorsport runs on regional Middle Eastern rallies.

Al-Attiyah will compete against three Rally2 drivers among the 13 entries in the FIA category. Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya, his cousin and previous FIA vice-president, partners up with Nasser's old navigator Giovanni Bernacchini to race a Ford Fiesta, whilst Hamed Al-Wahaibi (Skoda Fabia) returns in a two-car Oman squad with young Abdullah Al-Rawahi driving another Ford Fiesta.

Six crews are enrolled to participate in Group NR4 for MERC2 category ratings. Meshari Al-Thefiri of Kuwait is the defending champion and the favorite to maintain his triumph on a Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX.

Jordanian drivers Shabi Shaban and Ihab Al-Shourafa, and also Lebanese prodigy Alex El-Feghali and fellow Lebanese drivers Ahmed Khaled and Shadi El-Fakih, will stand in his path.

Henry Kahy returns to the MERC 3 division to try to maintain his extraordinary run of success in a two-wheel-drive vehicle. In his faithful Skoda, he joins forces with Carlos Hanna. Asem Aref, a local driver, is also competing in a little Renault Clio RS.

Saleh Al-Saif, a skilled Saudi off-road expert, rounds up the entry in a Can-Am Maverick X3. This season, FIA T4 vehicles are allowed to compete in gravel stages of the regional rally championships, and Al-Saif placed the sixth total in the first race in Qatar and presently leading the title category.

This year's rally will be held in the Movenpick Resort and Spa Dead Sea, where all relevant COVID-19 regulations will be followed, namely verification of negative testing (with a 48-hour validity) before admission to the service park area is permitted.