Marcus Gronholm has tackled many every rally out there during his long career. However, one stands out more than others. Rally Sweden and the world famous Sagen stage have always been one of the Finns favorite. Gronholm has announced that he will be in an M-Sport Ford Focus for the Swedish round in 2010.
The rally kicks off on 12 February and is the only snow event on the calendar this year. Gronholm has won Sweden five times and should be right back at home in the Ford Focus. It was originally thought that perhaps he would join the ranks at the Petter Solberg World Rally Team, however constraints in Petter’s budget will see Gronholm run in a Focus for a separate outfit. Marcus has openly stated that victory is what he is after, but he also had no problem saying that his routine is not the same as that of the current championship favorites. Gronholm will be joined in the car with none other than Timo Rautiainen who has been his co-driver since 1995.
Excellent news for the WRC as the last time Marcus was in the car he was able to attract a lot of attention. He even ran a great race in a Prodrive Subaru that had been off of its paces for the last couple years of existence, on pace for a third place finish before hitting a tree stump and retiring from Rally Portugal last year. Go Marcus!