Tidemand in Mountain Rally Norway on Saturday
With Rally Sweden less than two weeks away, it is time for the first event of the year for Pontus Tidemand. Norwegian Mountain Rally is on the agenda this Saturday and Pontus participates together with co-driver Ola Fløene in Team Tätab’s Ford Fiesta RS WRC to bring up the pace before the WRC rally.
Mountain Rally is the second event in this year’s Norwegian championship and consists of six special stages of 79,49 km altogether. The base is the mountain town of Gol with both start and finish at Pers Resort. The service area is located at Gols Camping and the race day offers two service breaks where the spectators will be able to watch the activity up close.
In order to prepare, Pontus has had a two-day-long test earlier this week with the Ford Fiesta WRC that he will drive on Saturday.
“We had a good test during the week and everything worked properly” he says. “Just to be back in a WRC car adds an extra adrenaline rush and I’m really looking forward to the upcoming weeks.”
Pontus and Ola are not the only ones who practise through Mountain Rally – the major competition in the weekend’s event is Mads Østberg who, with Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson in the right seat, also makes sure to get a few additional kilometers on snow ahead of Rally Sweden.
“Tough competition is needed to make a rally exciting and I hope we will have a little fight” says Pontus. “I’ve driven Mountain Rally once before and remember the roads as good winter roads, so this will be a perfect rehearsal for Rally Sweden and we’ll do what we can to find the right feeling and pace.”
Mountain Rally Norway starts at eight o’clock on Saturday morning and the first car is expected to reach finish at 15:40 in the afternoon.
Itinerary Mountain Rally Norway 2014:
Saturday 25 January
| SS1 | Gjesthusvegen | 3,87 km | 08:29 |
| SS2 | Grønli 1 | 11,92 km | 08:50 |
| SS3 | Lauvseth-Golsfjellet-Oset | 16,55 km | 09:26 |
| SS4 | Ridalen | 26,03 km | 11:40 |
| SS5 | Grønli 2 | 11,92 km | 13:48 |
| SS6 | Lauvseth-Golsfjellet-Fjellstuen | 9,2 km | 14:24 |
Photo: Christian Gustavsson