Grönholm to drive Rally de Portugal for Prodrive

print this

Finnish rally driver Marcus Grönholm, who officially retired from the World Rally Championship at the end of the 2007 season, is to take part in this year's Rally de Portugal.
      The two-time WRC World Champion has signed a contract to drive one rally for the Prodrive team, and will be behind the wheel of a Subaru Impreza WRC 2008.
      Grönholm reported on his cameo comeback to the world of topflight rallying on Monday. He will be accompanied in the front seats by his long-time co-driver Timo Rautiainen.
     
Grönholm will be able to call on experiences of the Portugal route from last year, when he drove the so-called "zero-car", which goes through each stage at a competitive speed around 10 minutes before the first competing car, in order to check that everything is in place and spectators are a safe distance from the road.
      In 2008, however, the Rally de Portugal was not on the WRC calendar. In 2007, during his final season in the championship, Grönholm finished 4th in Portugal.
     
The driver tested the Subaru over a shortish distance in connection with Rally Norway earlier this month, and he intends to carry out further testing in March.
      The Rally de Portugal takes place from April 3rd to 5th.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Rally: Loeb wins 4th consecutive World Championship; Grönholm comes in second in farewell race and in overall points (3.12.2007)

Links:
  Marcus Grönholm (Wikipedia)
  Prodrive

Helsingin Sanomat