Pontus Tidemand's manager believes the young Swede is ready to step up from WRC 2 to world rally car machinery – and he hopes to find him a seat with a top-line team next year.

Tidemand is one of the WRC's rising stars after winning the Junior championship in 2013 and securing this year's WRC 2 title at ADAC Rallye Deutschland, thanks to four victories with Skoda Motorsport.

Erik Veiby told the WRC Live Podcast he was monitoring the 2018 driver market "very closely" to find a suitable world rally car opening for his driver, and that developments at M-Sport were of particular interest.

"He is really ready to move on," Veiby said. "When you see the guys he has been competing with, like Esapekka Lappi and Teemu Suninen, and how well they have done when they have come up [to drive a world rally car].

"Two years ago I was worried that it would be too much of a step to go from R5 to a 2017 world rally car but it seems the step is not so big as I was afraid of."

In an interview with Becs Williams, Veiby revealed that a fourth season with Skoda Motorsport in WRC 2 was another option being considered.

"First of all there is an option with Skoda," he explained. "The other option is to see where some of the more established WRC drivers end up. There are strong rumours around where Sébastien Ogier and Ott Tänak might go. In a way we are waiting to see where the last pieces of the puzzle end up.

"This is the WRC silly season, so we are following it very closely to see if we can find a 'learning' spot for Pontus."

Hear the whole story, and comments from Pontus himself in the Podcast section.

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