Grönholm back in Portugal!

The double Finnish world champion, Marcus Grönholm, will come out of his sporting retirement and make his comeback on the world stage at the next Rally of Portugal, from April 2 to 5, on a 14 Subaru Impreza S2008 prepared by Prodrive. He will be accompanied by his faithful co-driver, Timo Rautiainen.

“Prodrive offered me this opportunity to compete in the Portugal Rally behind the wheel of an Impreza WRC of 2008 and after having carried out a test session in Norway, I decided to take up the challenge. When I made the decision to stop rallying, a year and a half ago now, I never said I wouldn't come back! “, declared Marcus Grönholm at the time.

“Everyone wonders why I do this and maybe I'm stupid, but if I want to have fun and race again, why not? The Portugal Rally is a unique event, I couldn't refuse! At the end of this rally, I will take stock and we will see if I decide to continue or not?” added the Finn.

Last year, Grönholm had already played the luxury opener in Portugal in a Ford Focus, on the occasion of the second round of the IRC, he had also participated in some races of Rallycross at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta and served as “personal advisor” to the young Andreas Mikkelsen in the WRC. It seems that Marcus can't bear to stay away from the special stages!

Richard Taylor, director of Prodrive, confirmed that “discussions began at the end of 2008 with Marcus”, and indicated that only Portugal is planned for the moment. “Despite the fact that we cannot approve a 2009 version (following the withdrawal of Subaru), we are going to prepare the best possible car for it, an evolution of the 2008 model driven in Great Britain by Solberg and Atkinson, with new shock absorbers “, clarified Taylor. “We’ll see if he likes it!” ".