Marcus Grönholm

Early career

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. 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 did not 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

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.

In 2003 Peugeot stuck with the same lineup as 2002 (Grönholm, Burns, Panizzi and Rovanperä) and also the 206. The only change was that the team now had major sponsorship from Cigarette Giants Marlboro painting the cars red and white. However the 206 was now four years old and showing its age. Grönholm covered this with three wins in Sweden, New Zealand and Argentina (the latter after an incident with a bank which dropped him to as low as 6th); however fuel pressure issues in Greece and a broken Propshaft in Cyprus meant Grönholm lost valuable points. A second in Germany was followed by accidents in Finland, Australia and Italy and by this stage he had fallen to 6th in the Championship. 4th in France and 6th in Spain after a wrong tire choice was followed by another crash in Great Britain when he hit a pile of logs on a stage. The police soon caught him and despite his best efforts Grönholm was forbidden to go back to service. He finished 6th with 46 points.

In 2004 Peugeot introduced the new 307 to replace the 206 but despite a 2nd in Sweden Grönholm took an immediate dislike to the new car because of its poor reliability. After power steering woes in Mexico the Finn stated "I'm fed up with this car". An eventful 2nd in New Zealand was followed by heartbreak in Cyprus: Here Grönholm thought he had taken the 307's first win but after the event both he and team-mate Harri Rovanperä (who finished 5th) were disqualified for illegal water pumps. A damaged suspension took him out in Greece, while despite a 2nd in Turkey, co-driver Rautiainen suffered two broken bones in his bottom after they ran over a loose steel rod lying on the stage they were driving on which went through Timo's seat - this incident went viral when after a reporter's question, Grönholm explained that something went through the seat "up in the ass of Timo". In Finland everything clicked despite a gearbox issue and Grönholm finally got a win he was allowed to keep, but he went from Hero to Zero by crashing on the first stage in Germany. Spain would be his last podium of the year, coming home 2nd after winning a battle with Carlos Sainz. This meant Grönholm finished a frustrating 5th with 62 points.

For 2005 Peugeot switched from Michelin to Pirelli tires, feeling that they could win on different rubber and to give Pirelli opportunities with other teams as only Subaru used their rubber in 2004. Grönholm also had a new team-mate in Markko Märtin as Rovanperä joined Mitsubishi. After a difficult start with crashes in Monaco and Sweden Grönholm finished 2nd in Mexico and New Zealand and was in contention for the win in Italy until a hefty roll down a hill cost him a heap of time and he had to settle for 3rd. Retirement in Cyprus was followed by another 3rd in Turkey where he lost a fight with Solberg for 2nd; however both were comfortably beaten by Loeb who dominated the year with 10 wins and Michelin tires that were superior to the Pirelli on the Peugeot. Groholm criticised the 307's speed in Argentina where despite coming 2nd he stated "It's impossible to go faster with this car". The Finn did take two wins in Finland and Japan, both of which creating contrasting emotions. In Finland he won his home rally for the fifth time despite Rautiainen having another bizarre injury when he damaged a vertebra over a jump. The Japan event came just a week after the death of Martin's co-driver Michael Park after a crash in Great Britain (Grönholm was therefore withdrawn from the event) and Grönholm was set to come 2nd until rally leader Petter Solberg crashed on the penultimate stage handing Grönholm the win. It would be Marcus' last with Peugeot as he retired from the last three events of the year in France (gearbox issues) Spain (technical failure) and Australia (damaged suspension) and although he tied with Solberg on 71 points, the Norwegian pipped him to 2nd with more wins (3-2) so Marcus finished 3rd. At the end of the year Peugeot left the championship and Grönholm needed to find a new team.

2006–2007: Ford

For the 2006 season, Grönholm switched to the Ford team, driving their all-new 2006-specification Focus RS 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.

In the meantime, the hopeful Finn collected victories over Loeb in Greece and Finland. Loeb's hopes seemed to be coming to fruition 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 Grönholm, 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.

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.

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", also citing the opportunity ahead of him to potentially retire as a three-time World Rally Champion.

Other success

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.

Rallycross

On April 16, 2008 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, the Netherlands 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.

In 2011 Grönholm participated in the American Global RallyCross Championship in a 560 bhp Best Buy Ford Fiesta Mk7 prepared by the Swedish company Olsbergs MSE. 2012 he continued in the GRC for the same team and car and started the season with two overall victories on two events. A career-ending injury took place during practice for the 3rd round, held at X Games Los Angeles 2012.

Later rally career

In August 2008, Grönholm turned down Stobart M-Sport Ford's offer to return to the WRC to replace the injured Gigi Galli. 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. 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." 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.

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.

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.

Personal life

Grönholm lives in Ingå with his wife Teresa and their three children. One of them is Niclas Grönholm, who is currently competing in FIA World Rallycross Championship with a Ford Fiesta Mk7 ST prepared by Olsbergs MSE in Sweden.

He and his co-driver Timo Rautiainen are brothers-in-law.