Teams to meet to decide on Jordan

The boat transporting the kit from Italy to Israel failed to arrive at 14:00 today and is now expected at 22:00.

Israeli customs will be closed at that time, meaning the earliest the kit is going to arrive in the Dead Sea service park is mid-afternoon tomorrow, less than 24 hours before the first competing cars are scheduled to arrive expecting to be serviced after the first loop of competition.

Whether or not to cancel the opening day of the rally is at the top of the agenda for tonight's meeting, which has been put back from two o'clock this afternoon, with AUTOSPORT sources fearing there is little alternative.

"We still can't honestly say when the boat's going to arrive," said the source. "It was Sunday, then Monday, then 14:00 today then 10 tonight. Who really knows? And, once the boat's here, it's another step into the unknown about how long it's going to take to clear customs.

"The sensible plan would seem to be to kick Thursday into touch and get everything sorted for Friday-Saturday. Let's see."

There are mounting concerns that the event might be cancelled in its entirety, with the teams unlikely to have the time to build the service park infrastructure which had been planned for the event.

The source added: "The organisers of the event are on top of this and they're planning different scenarios all of the time. It would be a shame to get everything out here only to send it all home again."