Marcus Grönholm

Grönholm at the 2006 Rally Argentina press conference.
Personal information
Nationality	Finnish
Born	(1968-02-05) February 5, 1968 (age 44)
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1989 – 2007, 2009, 2010
Teams	Toyota, Peugeot, Ford
Rallies	150
Championships	2 (2000, 2002)
Rally wins	30
Podiums	60
Stage wins	540
Total points	615
First rally	1989 1000 Lakes Rally
First win	2000 Swedish Rally
Last win	2007 Rally New Zealand
Last rally	2010 Swedish Rally

Marcus "Bosse" Grönholm (born February 5, 1968 in Kauniainen/Grankulla) is a Finnish former rally driver. Driving for Peugeot, he won the World Rally Championship in 2000 and 2002. After Peugeot withdrew from the World Rally Championship, Grönholm moved to Ford for the 2006 season and placed second in the drivers' world championship, losing the title to Sébastien Loeb by one point. The next year he again placed second, four points behind Loeb. He and his co-driver Timo Rautiainen retired from rallying after the 2007 season but returned to the championship in 2009 driving a private Subaru for a short period of time.

Grönholm also won the 2002 Race of Champions, taking home the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy and earning the title "Champion of Champions". At the 2006 Race of Champions, he formed team Finland with Heikki Kovalainen and the pair won the Nations' Cup.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Marcus' father, Ulf "Uffe" Grönholm, had been an active rally driver in the late 1970s to early 1980s, and with measurable success too, winding up twice Finnish champion. He was killed during a practice run for Hankiralli on February 25, 1981 in Kirkkonummi. Despite this connection, his son, only 13 years old at the time of his father's death, was latterly to refute any suggestion that it was Ulf, and not fellow rally-driving cousin (and occasional Peugeot factory squad team-mate at various points during the early 2000s), Sebastian Lindholm, who tempted him into following in his father's footsteps by also participating in the sport.^[1] In his teens Grönholm was fond of motocross as a recreational activity, but a serious knee injury forced a switch to boxing.

Grönholm featured in various bit-part roles in the world series throughout the 1990s, most notably with Toyota with whom he drove Celicas and Corolla WRCs. Much considered as a late-bloomer he didn't become a 'factory driver' until his early 30s. A staggering string of fastest stage times one year as a privateer, on the final day of the Rally Finland, subsequently brought him to the attention of such factory teams as Ford, Toyota and Peugeot, who all presented him with offers for further employment. It was only when he joined the latter marque, championship newcomers for 1999, that he began to enjoy such meteoric success.

1999–2005: Peugeot[link]

Grönholm driving a Peugeot 206 WRC at the 2001 Rally Finland.

After suffering an engine failure on the season-opening round in Monte Carlo in 2000, he took his first championship win on the Swedish Rally the following month, with the 206 WRC. Consequent wins, including on his home round of the series, were sufficient to see off closest points challenger, Subaru's Richard Burns and land a shock first title after finishing second to the Englishman in the Rally of Great Britain. After an irksome and unsuccessful championship defence in 2001 during which assorted mechanical problems kept him down to 4th overall in the points table, he easily won his second title in 2002, at times displaying Michael Schumacher-esque dominance of the sport.

Grönholm with a Peugeot 307 WRC at the 2004 Monte Carlo Rally.

Grönholm initially seemed to be carrying on from where he left off in the opening rounds of 2003: He led the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, threatening to score a shock win over the armada of Citroens until his Peugeot team's customary misfortune struck, as well as securing astounding early-season victories in New Zealand and Argentina – the latter a stirring comeback drive from sixth to deny a time-penalised Carlos Sainz. But he failed to cobble together a sufficiently consistent points-scoring run to truly have a hope in retaining his title. With the subsequent introduction of the bulkier Peugeot 307 WRC by the team's parent marque for 2004, he was to score only three more rally wins over the following two seasons. Two of those came in Finland; the remainder, an emotional inherited victory in Japan after the retirement of long-time leader Petter Solberg's Subaru, to follow on from the tragic Wales Rally GB just a week beforehand, where the sport had witnessed Peugeot team-mate Markko Märtin's navigator Michael Park's death in a crash. With the PSA Group representative teams jointly withdrawing from the championship for 2006, Grönholm was left to search for employment elsewhere.

2006–2007: Ford[link]

Grönholm driving a Ford Focus WRC at the 2006 Cyprus Rally.

For the 2006 season, Grönholm switched to the Ford team, driving their all-new 2006-specification Focus WRC. On his debut, in January, he won his first ever tarmac rally in Monte Carlo, beating Sébastien Loeb by over a minute, albeit beaten by the Frenchman on the road with the championship's unliked 'Superally' regulations coming to his rescue as a shunt for the Citroën hastened its exit from Leg One. Although he was to follow this up with an entirely credible win in the second event of the season, Sweden, subsequent events saw Loeb surge past into a comfortable lead: the Frenchman was to never finish below second place in every event he entered, while his adversary was left to rue a string of retirements and errors that stymied his challenge.

Grönholm at the 2006 Telstra Rally Australia.

In the meantime, the hopeful Finn collected victories over Loeb in Greece and Finland. Loeb's hopes seemed to be coming to fruituition when yet another victory in Cyprus brought him to the brink of the title; however he was to suffer his own blow days later when injury from a biking accident forced him out of the last four rounds of the series. Marcus was able to push within one point of the lead in the total standings as Loeb recovered, but his claim to the title was finally extinguished when he rolled out of contention on the first leg of the penultimate event in Australia. Some solace for Gronholm, though, came in that another victory in New Zealand ahead of team-mate Mikko Hirvonen was to confirm the manufacturers' title for his Ford team over Loeb-less Kronos Citroen.

Marcus Grönholm at the "Circus Maximus" SSS of 2007 Rallye Deutschland.

The 2007 season started in good fashion for Grönholm. He claimed third place in the 75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo behind the dominant returning works Citroens, and then the top spot in the Swedish Rally, mirroring the previous year's result. While the usually consummate Loeb tumbled out of the points from a potentially auspicious position in both Norway and Sardinia, Grönholm remained consistent and after winning for the 28th time in his career over the Citroen titan in Greece, led the championship by nine points over Loeb over the championship's summer break. At the 2007 Rally Finland, Ford secured a one-two with Grönholm taking the win and Hirvonen the second place ahead of Loeb. At the next rally, the 2007 Rallye Deutschland, Grönholm got distracted by a cow along the road and made a driving error while trying to secure a second place ahead of hard-charging François Duval, dropping him to fourth place behind his team-mate.

Grönholm in his last rally at the 2007 Wales Rally GB.

Then came New Zealand, where after a tight battle over all three legs, Grönholm took a victory of historic slenderness over Loeb. The final winning margin between the two represented the closest ever in the history of the World Rally Championship: 0.3 seconds. This victory put him ten points clear in the championship with five rounds remaining. Podium finishes in Spain and France kept him on track for the championship, but after crashing out early at both Japan and Ireland the championship lead switched back to Loeb. Second place at Wales Rally GB was not enough to dislodge Loeb and so Grönholm finished the season as runner-up.

On 14 September 2007, Grönholm announced long-rumoured plans to retire from rallying at the end of the 2007 season, stating that "I wanted to stop while I still had the speed to win rallies. I didn't want to leave the decision too late so that I wasn't capable of winning any longer",^[2] also citing the opportunity ahead of him to potentially retire as a three-time World Rally Champion.

Later career[link]

Rallycross: The 560 bhp Ford Fiesta ST ERCs of Marcus Grönholm and Andreas Eriksson in Stockholm

On April 16 Marcus Grönholm, at a press conference in the Kungsträdgården of Stockholm, announced a limited programme to take part in at least five rounds of the FIA European Championships for Rallycross Drivers (ERC). Grönholm participated in the series as team member of Andréas Eriksson's Ford Team RS Europe and, like the 2003 Swedish rally champion, drove a brand new 4WD Ford Fiesta ST European Rallycross Car (ERC) with 560 bhp (420 kW) and 800+ Nm torque that goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.2 seconds, faster than any current Formula One car. The programme was later reduced to three 2008 ERC rounds (Sweden, Holland and Poland). Grönholm qualified on pole and went on to take the win in his ERC debut at Höljes in Sweden on July 6 in front of 23,400 spectators.^[3]

In August 2008, Grönholm turned down Stobart M-Sport Ford's offer to return to the WRC to replace the injured Gigi Galli.^[4] It was later reported that the factory teams of Citroën and Subaru both wanted to sign him for the 2009 season. In December, Grönholm and Subaru were reportedly close to signing to a full 12-event program, when the team re-structured the potential deal for financial reasons to include only four events, which did not interest Grönholm.^[5] Soon after, Subaru announced its shock withdrawal from the series due to the economic downturn.

Grönholm came out of retirement to contest the 2009 Rally Portugal in a Prodrive-prepared Subaru Impreza WRC2008. He stated that he was not aiming for the win and that "it will be fun to return [to the WRC], even in an ad-hoc way, in a car that I don’t know at all and after a year where I competed in some rallycross events."^[6] Despite this Grönholm performed well and stayed in touch with the leaders; he was in 4th position when he crashed on Saturday’s opening stage, damaging the car's engine and ending his rally.^[7]

Grönholm took part in the 2010 Rally Sweden driving a Ford Focus RS WRC 08 for Team Therminator, alongside countryman Matthias Therman. Grönholm was co-driven, as usual, by Timo Rautiainen. He finished the rally – the first round of the 2010 WRC season in 21st place after technical problems on stage 6 costing him 13 minutes making him drop down to 33rd then making all the way up again until he got to 24th place but then dropped again to 30th place because of a puncture costing him another 7 minutes.^[8]

Grönholm will make a return to the wheel of a Prodrive-run rally car in September 2010 when he test drives the new Mini Countryman WRC in Portugal. Grönholm has agreed to the test before taking any long-term decisions about his future.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Grönholm lives in Ingå with his wife Teresa and their three children. He and his co-driver Timo Rautiainen are brothers-in-law.^[10]

He is a member of Mensa Finland.^[11]

Titles[link]

Year	Title	Car
1991	Finnish champion (Group N)	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1994	Finnish champion (Group A)	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD
1996	Finnish champion (Group A)	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1997	Finnish champion (Group A)	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1998	Finnish champion (Group A)	Toyota Corolla WRC / Toyota Celica GT-Four
2000	World Rally Champion	Peugeot 206 WRC
2002	World Rally Champion	Peugeot 206 WRC
2002	Champion of Champions	Varies

WRC wins[link]

Grönholm at the famous Bunnings Jumps during the 2006 Rally Australia.

#	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	49th International Swedish Rally	2000	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
2	30th Rally New Zealand	2000	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
3	50th Neste Rally Finland	2000	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
4	13th Telstra Rally Australia	2000	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
5	51st Neste Rally Finland	2001	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
6	14th Telstra Rally Australia	2001	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
7	57th Network Q Rally of Great Britain	2001	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
8	51st Uddeholm Swedish Rally	2002	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
9	30th Cyprus Rally	2002	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
10	52nd Neste Rally Finland	2002	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
11	32nd Propecia Rally New Zealand	2002	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
12	15th Telstra Rally Australia	2002	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
13	52nd Uddeholm Swedish Rally	2003	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
14	33rd Propecia Rally New Zealand	2003	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
15	23º Rally Argentina	2003	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
16	54th Neste Rally Finland	2004	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 307 WRC
17	55th Neste Rally Finland	2005	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 307 WRC
18	2nd Rally Japan	2005	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 307 WRC
19	74ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo	2006	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
20	55th Uddeholm Swedish Rally	2006	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
21	53rd Acropolis Rally	2006	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
22	56th Neste Oil Rally Finland	2006	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
23	7th Rally of Turkey	2006	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
24	36th Propecia Rally New Zealand	2006	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
25	62nd Wales Rally GB	2006	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
26	56th Uddeholm Swedish Rally	2007	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
27	4º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia	2007	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
28	54th BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally of Greece	2007	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06
29	57th Neste Oil Rally Finland	2007	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 07
30	37th Propecia Rally New Zealand	2007	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 07

Complete WRC results[link]