Tidemand to compete on SKODA’s home soil

Since Rally Sweden in February, Pontus Tidemand has been testing, training hard and preparing for the rest of the season. And now it is finally time to jump into the rally car again – this weekend he and his co-driver Jonas Andersson participate in a Czech championship rally as a warm-up for the upcoming WRC events.

“During the past months I have really been looking forward to get back into race mode again” says Pontus. “We are doing this rally mainly to get practice on asphalt and to get some speed in our bodies, but it is also both fun and important to race in front of the Czech fans that always support the SKODA teams in all championships.”

Rally Šumava Klatovy is the first round out of six in the Czech Rally Championship and is known to be spectacular for the spectators and challenging for the drivers. The 12 special stages of about 150 kilometers are technically and of various characters and will definitely live up to their reputation on Friday and Saturday.

It was actually here that SKODA made their debut and won with their new Fabia R5 last year. Then it was driven by Jan Kopecký, who will also compete for the manufacturer team this weekend. The Czech Republic has many drivers that are impressively quick on asphalt in their home country and Kopecký is probably the fastest of them all.

“He is outstanding on these kinds of roads so it will be very exciting to measure myself against him without having to think about results, at the same time as it is a great test for us ahead of the upcoming WRC events” says Pontus.

After the Czech rally, Rally Portugal is next in line for Pontus and Jonas. The Portuguese WRC round takes place between 19 and 22 May.