Premature ending of Aurskog-Høland Rally for Tidemand

The Norwegian Championship rally Aurskog-Høland Rally started well for Pontus Tidemand behind the wheel of Team Tätab’s Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The development curve went steadily up and he had a good lead when the water pump broke. Unfortunately, it forced him to retire with only two stages to go of the rally.

Aurskog-Høland Rally began with three special stages on Friday evening. Pontus took the lead from start and was pleased to have a 19,4 second margin down to second place overnight.

Running as the first car on the road on Saturday morning, the challenge was to find grip in the slippery gravel, but Pontus handled the situation well and saw it as great practise. This weekend Pontus had Patrik Barth in the co-driver’s seat for the first time and as their teamwork improved, they could push a little harder in every corner. After being fastest on the first seven stages, the fun came to an abrupt end on stage eight. The water pump broke and with only two stages to go, Pontus had to throw in the towel for this time.

“It’s always a bummer when it happens, but especially when it happens so close to the finish. But I choose to focus on the positive things. It went very well while it lasted and it’s been really fun to drive rally again. Patrik has done a great job in the co-driver’s seat and we had a good development during the event. We were looking forward to the last and longest stage of the rally so it was unfortunate that we didn’t get to attack it.”

Next weekend it’s time for another round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. It takes place in Kouvola in Finland and Pontus is looking forward to follow up his debut.