Troublesome All-Star Magic Weekend for Tidemand

Maybe this weekend didn’t turn out the way that Pontus Tidemand and his team Hedströms Motorsport was hoping for. But despite a problematic Höljes All-Star Magic Weekend, the team found positives as they sum up the weekend. “At least now we know that we are fast when everything is working properly” said Pontus.

With a new team and a new car, Thursday’s rallycross round in Höljes started well for Pontus. His VW Polo Supercar worked perfectly and he set solid times. But his luck quickly turned around after the qualifying heats. An incident in a very rough semi-final took its toll on the car and with too little time before the final, there was no chance to fix the damages.

“The situation isn’t optimal in a final when your car is that damaged” said Pontus. “I also picked up a puncture and that didn’t make it any easier to fight for a good result. I had to settle for a sixth place in the final, but I’m still happy that I actually made it all the way to the final in my very first race for the team.”

On Saturday the next round began with two of four qualifying heats. But it didn’t go according to plan this time either. Technical problems hit already during the morning’s free practice and the day was off to a tough start.

“Bad luck” commended Pontus. “You never know when it happens and this time we didn’t have the technique on our side. But the team did such a great job to fix the issues and we recharged to take the chance on the last day.”

Sunday started really well with fourth fastest time at warm-up and an impressive drive in the third qualifying heat, where Pontus was second quickest overall. Just in time for the fourth and last qualifying heat, heavy rain began to fall over the track and since Pontus had only driven the car on dry surface before, he was up for quite a challenge. He still made it to the semi-final, but that’s where today’s luck ended.

“We had problems again in the semi and that might have costed us a spot in the final” said Pontus, who’s event came to an end after the semi-final. He continued:

“The Hedströms Motorsport team have been working amazingly hard both before and during the event. We had a few great tests and every detail was in its place so I actually don’t think we could have done anything differently. This just wasn’t our weekend. But the day started in a good way today and thanks to that we know that we are fast when things are working properly, which is good practice for the Euro RX. We are already looking for revenge so we just need to start working towards that.”