The Midnight Sun Rally – good practise for Pontus Tidemand
The preparations for the next Junior WRC event continues for Pontus Tidemand. In order to be as ready as possible for Rally Finland in August, Pontus and co-driver Ola Fløene will take part in the historic rally The Midnight Sun Rally – in a Ford Fiesta R2 – to get more kilometers in the car prior to the next championship rally.
The Midnight Sun Rally is one of the biggest historic rallies in the world and is also the predecessor of today’s Rally Sweden. It ran in the summertime between 1950 and 1964 before it was renamed and became a winter rally. The original rally was brought back to life in the summer of 2006 and according to the rules, the participating cars must be from 1985 or older. For Pontus, there won’t be any trip back in time as he uses the rally as practise for Rally Finland and will drive Team Tätab’s Ford Fiesta R2, the same type of car that he drives in JWRC and that obviously is a newer car. This means that Pontus will not be in the actual competition, but he still looks forward to take on the special stages of a total of 215 km.
“The Midnight Sun Rally will be great and intense practise for Rally Finland, which is the last gravel event in the JWRC calendar this year. The Midnight Sun Rally also largely takes place in my home area, so of course it’s a bit special and I’m sure it will be a great event for the spectators.”
This year’s Midnight Sun Rally includes 22 special stages (originally 23, but SS12 has been cancelled), the base is located to Karlstad and the opening stage is held at Kalvholmens Motor Stadium on Wednesday Evening. Thursday offers seven stages with a stop in Årjäng and finish in Arvika, while the crews drive another six stages with a stop in Arvika on Friday. The seven stages of Saturday takes place in the region of Närke and Bergslagen with a stop in Lindesberg and towards the afternoon, the crews head back to Karlstad for the ceremonial finish.
Follow the rally here.
The Midnight Sun Rally 2013
Wednesday 17 July
SS1 Kalvholmen – 1,22 km (first car at 19.00)
Thursday 18 July
SS2 Fisketjärn – 8,37 km (first car at 08.45)
SS3 Stömne – 20, 23 km (09.46)
SS4 Häljebyn – 9,41 km (10.39)
SS5 Årjängstravet – 3,55 km (11.12)
SS6 Rök – 7,39 km (13.01)
SS7 Långserud – 7,16 km (13.34)
SS8 Borgvik – 14,24 km (14.27)
SS9 Arvika Hamnen – 1,20 km (15.45)
Friday 19 July
SS10 Älgsjön – 18,24 km (first car at 08.33)
SS11 Ransberg – 15,62 km (09.41)
SS13 Mangen – 14,04 km (13.49)
SS14 Mallbacken – 6,21 km (15.37)
SS15 Hagfors – 14,91 km (16.30)
SS16 Torsked – 10,04 (17.53)
Saturday 20 July
SS17 Gammalkroppa – 10,89 km (first car at 08.28)
SS18 Brunnsjötorp – 9,53 km (08.56)
SS19 Striberg – 10,78 km (10.09)
SS20 Seltorp – 5,04 km (12.37)
SS21 Långsmoen – 10,83 km (14.20)
SS22 Skäggebol – 7,27 km (15.18)
SS23 Lundsberg – 8,94 km (16.51)