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2011 Jordan Rally

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Host country
  
Jordan

Stage surface
  
Gravel

Dates run
  
April 14 – 16 2011

Rally base
  
Dead Sea Centre, Jordan

Stages
  
20 (333.04 km; 206.94 mi)

Overall distance
  
1,008.89 km (626.90 mi)

The 2011 Jordan Rally was the fourth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 14–16 April, and was based beside the Dead Sea, some 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the country's capital, Amman. The rally was also be the second round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship.

The rally had been under threat ever since the previous round of the championship in Portugal due to the protests in neighbouring country Syria, where the equipment for the rally docks before being driven into Jordan; Citroën World Rally Team principal Olivier Quesnel called for the event to be cancelled. However, the teams confirmed attendance of the rally on 1 April, with equipment being docked in the Israeli port of Haifa. The transportation took longer than expected, which forced the recce of the rally to be put back by a day. Further delays with transportation, including the boat carrying the equipment suffering mechanical issues, left teams and officials with the possibility of having to erect the service park in one day, rather than the normal four days, but were not scheduled to halt running of the rally. A storm outside Haifa left it unsafe for the boat to dock until Wednesday morning, which eventually led to the cancellation of Thursday's stages. No further changes were made to the remainder of the itinerary, leaving fourteen stages to be run.

The rally concluded with the closest finish in the history of the World Rally Championship. Heading into the final 10.50 km (6.52 mi) Power Stage, Jari-Matti Latvala held a lead of 0.5 seconds over Sébastien Ogier, but Ogier overhauled his rival by just 0.2 seconds after winning the stage by 0.04 seconds over Latvala's Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, and crucially, 0.7 seconds over Latvala. Sébastien Loeb finished third ahead of Hirvonen. Bernardo Sousa won the Super 2000 class with a tenth place overall finish.

Power Stage

The "Power stage" was a live, televised 10.50 km (6.52 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held near the Dead Sea Centre.

References

2011 Jordan Rally Wikipedia