Initially, he said no.
Out of World Rally Championship competition for five years, with barely any time to prepare – and all for a rally he had never done before – why would he put himself through it?
“Then I thought about it… and we are here.”
The allure of returning to the world stage – a stage that has given him so much with a Junior WRC title in 2013, WRC2 title in 2017 and four shots in a pukka M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC in 2019 – proved too strong for Pontus Tidemand to resist.
“It was a really quick decision,” he laughs. “We talked just some days before the entry was closing! So yeah…”
Driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 from JC Raceteknik, a run the week before at North Rally Boden was sorted to dial Tidemand back into things.
And then it was time for Rally Sweden 2025. Time will ultimately tell if this proves to be a one-off or the start of a mini comeback, but Tidemand set out to enjoy it and that’s exactly what he did.
Tidemand's last WRC event before Sweden was Monza at the end of 2020
“It was nice to be back in the world championship and drive again, I really enjoyed it,” he tells DirtFish.
“We had really no pressure before and just did it to have fun. And yeah, it was like this. So I really enjoyed it, and the Swedish Rally in Umeå is also very nice, so I hope it will be there for a long time, and hopefully I can do it some more time [in the future].”
How did Tidemand’s comeback go?
Up against a field stacked with talented young hotshots, Tidemand knew he’d face a challenge to be competitive – but the early signs were promising when he set the fastest WRC2 time on shakedown.
Second fastest on the event-opening Umeå Sprint stage later that evening further raised eyebrows and expectation that Tidemand could be a real contender.
“Even though I hadn’t been driving for a long time, quite quickly I felt comfortable in the car,” he reflects.
“But let’s say when we analyzed a bit after, we were really too aggressive on the settings on the car.”
Upon reflection, Tidemand realizes his Škoda was too stiff for the stages he predominantly faced
Still the Umeå stage suited Tidemand who set a top-four stage time each time it ran, but out in the forests the speed was not the same.
“We did this rally a week before, but there I was one of the first cars on the road, no stage was going two times, it was pure black ice and we had some good grip – so there it felt fantastic,” Tidemand explains.
“And on Umeå Sprint and on shakedown it was also pure ice so we were able to set really competitive times, but then when we get to the stages, when you’re further back in the field and it gets loose and you have the long corners and all this, yeah, it was… difficult.
“For sure it was difficult for everyone but we really see on the WRC+ that we’re missing a lot of the traction, let’s say.
“But OK,” he sighs, “that’s also a bit the experience and for sure if I will be there next year, we know this: that we need to be like the other drivers and not be so aggressive and not so stiff on the damper settings, it should be more soft and smooth.
“But for the rest it was working well I would say.”
Eighth in class isn’t the result Tidemand wanted, but the positive is that he has clearly lost none of the speed that made him a dominant force in the Rally2 category during the late 2010s.
If I get another chance, I should not say noPontus Tidemand
“Yes for sure, but you need to keep this pace over the whole rally for sure – you need really to push everywhere!” he interjects.
“To push everywhere you need to have the right settings and feel comfortable and everything needs to be like really perfect – that’s how we win rallies. But for sure some parts were not so bad.
“We had some split times that were quickest; when there was more grip in the road, the pace was there to be honest. That was not so bad.”
Where is Tidemand and his career?
Asked if returning to the WRC made him realize how much he missed it, Tidemand draws a smile.
“For sure, if I should get a proper chance I should do it again. So for sure, yes. But everything has a high price and if you should manage to get budget and everything together by yourself, it’s not so easy!”
This is the crux facing nearly all rally drivers, but at 34 Tidemand is far from a spent force. He still has plenty to give in a rally car, but he’s equally not knocking on the door of manufacturer teams searching for a Rally1 seat.
Which begs the question: is he still viewing his rallying as a career, or purely a means to have fun?
Tidemand's career took him to a World Rally Car in 2019, but he's not sure what's next
“Hard question,” he admits, “I don’t know. I’m not thinking so much about it, let’s say like this.
“I think there was a turn when corona [virus] was coming, things were changing a bit. For me, it’s still not the same now like it was before the corona time – it seems to be very hard to find the budget.
“But hopefully with not so much talk about electrical cars and everything, it looks as if things are maybe getting better for rallying.”
Everything, then, is up in the air. But Tidemand would like to give his home round of the European Rally Championship a try later this year.
“I haven’t done that one either,” he says, “so I think it would be nice to drive Royal Rally of Scandinavia.
“That should be good to do in the same car and we try to get some proper testing before.”
As for any other WRC opportunities, the message is clear: he won’t have the same initial reaction as last time!
“Absolutely,” he laughs. “If I get the chance, I should not say no.”
