Representing the Swedish CE Dealer Team, Grönholm began his season with a brilliant victory in Portugal at the beginning of June. He now has nine World RX wins under his belt and will be chasing his tenth this weekend at the classic Höljes circuit.
“We’re hoping to have a weekend in Sweden similar to the one we had in Portugal. We should be in a good position to go for a second win. On Monday we tested and trained at the Tykkimäki rallycross track in Kouvola,” Grönholm said.
“We also tried a few setup things, so everything should be in order in that respect. I believe our PWR RX1e fully electric car will be fast at Höljes.”
In the World Rallycross Championship, competitors can use either fully electric or combustion engine cars. At the start of the season, there were questions about whether the balance of power between the car types would vary from race to race.
Höljes hasn’t historically been a favourable venue for electric cars, due to the unusually short paved start straight.
“The Höljes track suits us generally well, but the paved portion of the start straight is annoyingly short. When the surface drops from tarmac to gravel, that’s where the combustion engine cars pull away from us. When an electric car transitions from the tarmac’s grip to the gravel, the speed drops because the wheels start spinning. That’s usually where the gaps in Höljes come from,” Grönholm explained.
Grönholm has previously taken wins at Höljes in other rallycross series, but a top-class World RX victory at the Swedish circuit still eludes him.
“Something’s always gone wrong, so it would be nice to fix that stat this weekend. We’re heading to Sweden in good spirits, and of course, the win is our goal,” Grönholm underlined.
The second World RX weekend of the season kicks off in Höljes on Saturday with practice and the first two qualifying heats. Sunday will feature two more qualifying rounds, followed by the semi-finals and final.
