Third straight WRC 2 win for Pontus Tidemand in Argentina
He quickly built up a gigantic lead that continued to grow and after four competitive days, EVEN Management and SKODA Motorsport’s Pontus Tidemand secured the win at the Argentinean WRC round. With a hat trick of victories behind him, he extends his WRC 2 championship lead and has a great position for the continued season.
April 30, 2017
He quickly built up a gigantic lead that continued to grow and after four competitive days, EVEN Management and SKODA Motorsport’s Pontus Tidemand secured the win at the Argentinean WRC round. With a hat trick of victories behind him, he extends his WRC 2 championship lead and has a great position for the continued season.
“This went entirely according to plan and we’ll take maximum points with us from this event” said a pleased Pontus. “It has been a flawless rally where everything has worked perfectly even though it was my debut in Argentina. It is obviously not the same kind of excitement as it is when you are in a close battle, but on this level you need to know how to cope with all situations. We did our job and the experience is really valuable since I’m hoping to compete here next year as well.”
Rally Argentina was Pontus Tidemand’s event from start until finish. He got a hold of the WRC 2 lead already on the opening super special on Thursday and on Friday he pulled away from his competitors and put a huge distance between them. He and his co-driver Jonas Andersson were quickest on all stages during the first two days and ahead of Saturday’s programme, they had a lead of over four minutes.
On rugged roads with varied surfaces, Pontus managed to use his skills to control the lead and at the same time more than double it during the longest day of the rally. On Saturday evening, the gap to Chilean Juan Carlos Alonso in second place had grown to more than nine minutes.
With three of the most challenging stages left on the final day, survival and to reach the finish line was the only strategy. Pontus drove in a clean and controlled way and could eventually secure the victory, take his 12th stage win and get a margin over ten minutes to Alonso in second. This means that Pontus now takes his third straight victory in the WRC 2 championship after the wins at Rally Sweden and Rally Mexico. With this, he extends his overall championship lead and is in a great position for the remaining events this season.
“To be in the championship lead means a lot at this point. The next rally is Rally Portugal, which is the first of the three compulsory events this year, and with all the drivers in the game, I’m expecting an extremely tough battle. With three victories and the championship lead, I’m hoping that we can afford to push a bit in Portugal to be in the top fight.”