Pontus Tidemand battled horrendous weather conditions at ACI Rally Monza to establish a slender WRC 2 category lead on Friday evening. The Swede, driving a Skoda Fabia Rally2, made a slow start and found himself at the bottom of the leaderboard after Friday’s opener. The Citroën C3 R5 pilot is fighting head-to-head with Tidemand for the series crown and could mount an attack over Saturday’s mountain stages. Jan Kopecky rounded out the leaderboard in fourth, 19.9sec adrift of Skoda team-mate Tidemand up front. A Tarmac specialist, Kopecky was surprised at the loose conditions and found it difficult to enjoy the stages.

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