Tidemand is king of the mountain

Junior WRC champion Pontus Tidemand gave himself a pre Rally Sweden boost on Saturday (23rd) when he won the Mountain Rally Norway.

The 23-year-old Swede tackled the Norwegian Championship counter in a 2011-spec team Tätab Ford Fiesta RS WRC as a warm-up to his upcoming home round of the WRC.

Accompanied by co-driver Ola Fløene, Tidemand was fastest on all six of the rally’s snow-covered stages. He took victory by 1minute 36.3 seconds from Citroen’s Mads Ostberg who was also there for some pre-Sweden practice in his DS3 WRC.

“The win was nice, but I really didn’t go there for the victory,” Tidemand told wrc.com. “The result doesn’t mean too much because Mads had chosen to run WRC-spec studded tyres, rather than the Norwegian championship ones I used that are a few centimetres narrower and give more grip.

“I chose them because after almost a year out of a World Rally Car I wanted the extra reassurance of the narrow tyre to help me get back up to speed. Overall I’m happy with what we achieved. The car felt good, although I think I have some more work to do on the faster sections and braking points.”

Tidemand has a final pre-Sweden test planned for Sunday (2 Feb), when he will drive his M-Sport-prepared Rally Sweden Fiesta that features the latest engine and suspension upgrades.