Double WRC champion Marcus Gronholm has joined Stobart for the opening round of the WRC calendar in Sweden. Gronholm, who already entered in the event driving a Ford Focus has been brought under the Stobart banner as an official points scorer.
Gronholm originally entered under Mattias Therman’s team banner, however Ford has opted to replace Matthew Wilson with Gronholm in the Stobart outfit in hopes of scoring key manufacturer points. Matthew Wilson will still participate in the Swedish round but will not be eligible to score any points. Gronholm proved last year at Rally Portugal that he was more than capable of hanging with the big dogs in a ill performing Prodrive Subaru. The added factory support should help Gronholm secure a podium over the likes of Henning and Petter Solberg, as well as Citroen pilot Dani Sordo who is still building confidence in snow events. Gronholm is a huge fan of the Swedish event and has had a large amount of success in the event. He is even gone as far as to name his restaurant after one of the world famous stages featured in the rally.