Well prepared Tidemand takes on the challenge of Rally Turkey

One of the toughest WRC events of the season awaits as Pontus Tidemand is back in M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta WRC. He is extremely prepared and is excited to compete and to once again jump into the most fantastic car he has ever driven. “An amazing feeling to be back behind the wheel of this car again, this is where I want to be and feel like I belong” said Pontus.

Rally Turkey might be the gravel rally that has the slowest speed of the season, but it comes with quite a few challenges that makes it one the year’s toughest events. The searing heat with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius is difficult to handle for both drivers and cars. To make it even harder, the rough and demanding mountain roads are very rocky and those rocks can quickly become devastating.

“This is a rally that is hard to master” said Pontus. “The roads are extreme and I know from last year that it’s almost impossible to avoid the rocks since they are practically everywhere. That in combination with the heat really put both man and machine to the test. You need to be clever and take care of car and tyres to get through the stages at the same time as you, as usual, need to have some speed.”

One of the most important steps in the thorough preparations for Pontus and his co-driver Ola Fløene was a test together with the M-Sport team. After a couple of days of intense driving, Pontus feels ready to throw himself back into the WRC.

“It was an amazing feeling to be back behind the wheel of this car again, this is where I want to be and feel like I belong. We tested in France on roads of similar character as the Turkish roads and I took advantage of every minute. I’m happy with the car, it’s so much fun to be back with the team and it was good for me and Ola to pick up where we left off in February” said Pontus and continued:

“With a great test behind and a whole lot of analyzing in addition to the usual rally preparations, we are ready for this. The goal is to have a solid rally where we get the most out of this fantastic car, have a good progression during the event and hopefully set some good times” said Pontus.

Rally Turkey takes place between 12 and 15 September and has its base in Asparan, near the city of Marmaris. Nearly 320 kilometer, divided into 17 special stages will be accomplished over the weekend.