Swedish champion
takes to world
stage

The 21-year-old, who is Henning Solberg’s stepson, clinched the Swedish Championship at the wheel of a Super 2000 Ford Fiesta last year, and he put on an impressive showing at the wheel of an ex-Andreas Mikkelsen Super 2000 Skoda Fabia on Rally Sweden this year, finishing third in the S2000 rankings and 18th overall. So far, Tidemand has also won the opening two rounds of this year’s Swedish Championship.

He takes a step down to the two-wheel drive R2 category on the world stage, with all the WRC Academy drivers running on Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiestas, but what he is lacking in horsepower he will more than make up for in competition.

“You never know what will happen in motorsport,” he said. “A chance to enter the WRC Academy turned up last week and of course I took it as quickly as I could. I’m very happy and grateful to EVEN Rally for making this adventure possible. I’m really looking forward to the first round of the season in Portugal and I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from this year.”

So far, 11 drivers have signed up for the second season of the WRC Academy, which takes in six rounds in Portugal before embarking on rallies in Greece, Finland, Germany, France and Spain.