[WRC] Rally Sweden 2025

[Andre Oliveira]

Pontus Tidemand makes WRC2 comeback at Rally Sweden with JC Raceteknik



Junior-WRC and WRC2 Champion Pontus Tidemand is set to make his WRC2 comeback at the Swedish round of the World Rally Championship, Rally Sweden, in Umeå from February 13–16, driving for JC Raceteknik.

Tidemand, who won the WRC2 championship title in 2017, will be making his first WRC appearance since 2020, when he claimed the WRC2 silver medal. Partnering with JC Raceteknik, he will compete in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 alongside Norwegian co-driver Jørgen Eriksen.

The Rally Sweden entry wasn’t part of Tidemand’s original plans but came about after a visit to JC Raceteknik’s headquarters in Kil recently when the topic of the rally came up.

This will also mark Tidemand’s first Rally Sweden since the event moved from Värmland to Umeå. To prepare, he will compete in the Swedish Championship opener, North Rally Boden, the weekend before Rally Sweden.

Although this is his first WRC2 start since 2020, Tidemand remains the most successful driver in the class's history, boasting 14 victories.

Pontus Tidemand:

“I stopped by Joel [Christoffersson, Team Manager at JC Raceteknik] late last week, and he mentioned they had a Skoda available for Rally Sweden. I hadn’t even considered competing before that, but once he brought it up, I couldn’t resist. And here we are. I’ve never competed in Umeå before, but I’ve been there to watch. Rally Sweden is always special. I’ve taken a step back from it, but I did drive it 10 years in a row in Värmland, and it went pretty well back then. We’ll be racing the North Rally in Boden as preparation. It’s always good to have a rally under your belt before Rally Sweden. I’ve competed in the WRC for many years and don’t feel I have anything left to prove. But we’re coming with a great car, a great team, and a longer rally format suits me well. When it’s time to compete, you always get fired up. Still, this is mostly about the experience and the joy of it all."

Joel Christoffersson, Team Manager at JC Raceteknik:

“We are thrilled to have three cars at the start of Rally Sweden, and having Pontus on the team is incredibly exciting. Hopefully, he can contribute a lot with all his experience. We’re starting with the Swedish Championship in Boden with three cars, and the very next week we head into Rally Sweden—it’s a fantastic feeling. This is the first time for the team that we’re fielding so many cars in both a WRC and an SM event. We’re absolutely pumped and ready to make the most of it.”

[Andre Oliveira]

[deephouse]

Looks like it's more and more possibility that Hyundai will not field 4th car at all. 80 million budget and acting like this.

[EstWRC]

5 Estonians in the list! Nice

[ferrial]

Sad to see that Jürgenson drives Fiesta, which isn’t a competitive car.

[TypeR]

Sad to see that Jürgenson drives Fiesta, which isn’t a competitive car.

Very surprising indeed...

M-Sport puts out the prize and doesn't give him Skoda or Toyota..

He needs seat time in rally2 car and I think he has a very good opportunity for that, especially with those ,,extra rallies'' he got for good results last year and fia star programme..

[AndersX]

Looks like it's more and more possibility that Hyundai will not field 4th car at all. 80 million budget and acting like this.

You can notice how news about Genesis programm slowly increase in volumes recent months. I would think that the change of the attention and marketing/pr focus clearly indicates that they do not give a ...... about rally any more - too little pond for their ambitions, even though their own approach had led to different PR disasters, where losing almos secure WMC in the last meters of 2024 was just an exclamation mark!

[Rallyper]

Latest news from local newspaper Västerbotte. Kuriren:

Samis still think it´s crime of hatred and they also claims lack of economic compensations from organiser since first three rallies. There has been two statements as answers to the County Administrative Board where two sami villages giving two different answers. One private sami is on his own and playing king of the Umeå area, shattering the samis organisations internally. (Link 1)

Guys, it´s a mess right now. However it´s the County Adminstartive Board who decides authorisation of the rally, but they are not having the answer to the organiser yet...(link 2)

These are locked but for only less than 3 Euros you get a subscribe for 14 days, and articles will be readable.
https://www.vk.se/2025-01-17/ilska-i...h-rallyt-305ee
https://www.vk.se/2025-01-17/lanssty...tidigare-0b99b

[Jarek Z]

I think that most people don't even know who Sami people are. I also heard about them for the first time only last year:
https://sweden.se/life/people/sami-in-sweden

Are they all against rallying?

[deephouse]

You can notice how news about Genesis programm slowly increase in volumes recent months. I would think that the change of the attention and marketing/pr focus clearly indicates that they do not give a ...... about rally any more - too little pond for their ambitions, even though their own approach had led to different PR disasters, where losing almos secure WMC in the last meters of 2024 was just an exclamation mark!

I had already a feeling when Cyril came onboard, that he would drive them out of rallying completely, since he isn't passionate about that sport enough (sadly those guys at the top listen to him, so he clearly hold the keys, no matter how many of guys here think he is just a puppet). There is too much facts, that proves my theory.