Halfway into this year's rally season, the tarmac rallies are getting closer and closer. Pontus Tidemand continues to aim for the Junior World Champion title and to be well prepared for each rally is priority number one. With that goal in mind, Pontus and co-driver Ola Fløene will participate in Beligian Ypres Rally in a Ford Fiesta R2 this weekend.

Foto: A. Lavadinho/V.Cardoso

The first tarmac rally in Junior WRC is Rally Deutschland in August, but since the schedule is tight between Finland and Germany's world championship rallies, Pontus is already working on the preparations. Thanks to the support from EVEN Management and Tätab, he has the opportunity to get maximal training between the big events, something that can be crucial for the final result in the series. Last week, Pontus spent a few days at Vittoria Caneva Rally School in Italy to kick off his tarmac training and this weekend it's time for the first rally of the year on the same surface. But despite the fact that it is a competition, Pontus is careful to point out where his focus is:

"The only thing we care about in this race is the tarmac training, the final result doesn't matter to us. The more kilometers behind the wheel, the better chances we'll have in Rally Deutschland and the other upcoming tarmac rallies in JWRC."

Ypres Rally is a part of both the Belgian championship and the ERC series and is known for being a compact tarmac rally that attracts lots of spectators every year. All in all, 20 special stages of a total of 297 km will be driven and the Ford Fiesta R2 that Pontus will be driving belongs to Belgian Team Floral. The event starts late afternoon on Friday with six stages before the overnight break and during Saturday the remaining 14 stages will be accomplished. Both start and finish takes place in the Grote Markt square in Ypres.