Richards delighted as WRC heads to Middle East.

Subaru team boss David Richards is looking forward to the inaugural World Rally Championship event in Jordan next weekend and has predicted that it will be a real success.

Jordan is the only new event on the calendar this season and is the latest addition to the WRC since Rally Ireland last November.

The event is based on the shores of the Dead Sea - the world's lowest land point at 420 metres below sea level. Conditions in Jordan are predicted to be desert-like - with daily temperatures set to reach anywhere up to 40 degrees centigrade.

"It has been a long-held dream of mine that the World Rally Championship would finally come to the Middle East and I am particularly pleased that it is doing so in Jordan," said Richards.

"I have been very closely linked with motorsport in the Middle East since 1976 when I was first involved in organising the early rallies in the Gulf and then working with Saeed Al-Hajri who won the Middle East Rally Championship on three occasions for Prodrive.

"I built so many great friendships in the region and very much look forward to meeting everybody again in Jordan. It will be a totally different experience for the WRC teams but I am sure that with the support of Prince Feisal it will be extremely well organised and we can expect a wonderful Arabic welcome to the region."

Subaru's operations director Paul Howarth meanwhile believes that the high temperatures will be the biggest concern.

"Jordan is a new event so no drivers in the WRC have competitive experience of it which could prove to be a bit of a leveller amongst the younger drivers. Temperature will be a factor here as it'll be the hottest round of the season so far so everyone will have an eye on cooling and brake temperature," he explained.

"The route is quite twisty but because of the way they have bonded the stages together there is a lot of grip on what would seem to be very loose surface.

"It's a new event but we've done all our research: two years ago we studied the nature of the stages and, with a ban on testing there since, obtained the knowledge we will use now to develop a base setup for the event."