Driving the new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 for the first time, Grönholm secured at least third place in the final results of the Tuuri Ralli. Should the appeal by Teemu Asunmaa, who finished second, not succeed, the duo will climb to second place in the rally.
This result marks Grönholm’s best performance in the Finnish Rally Championship to date.
“Pretty OK,” Grönholm smiled at the finish.
“We made progress compared to my previous results by driving. The unnecessary guessing into turns was perhaps less present here. Still, I’m not completely satisfied with my performance because there’s still some unnecessary action and lifting off the throttle where I lose seconds.”
“But it is good this way. Second or third. There was a lot of positives in this rally, and overall, it went well. A podium finish is always a good achievement,” Grönholm summarized.
Grönholm noted that the new Skoda Rally2 car boosted his confidence in driving.
“Of course, we still have work to do to make the car perfectly suited to my driving style, but the new Skoda is a clear improvement compared to the previous generation Fabia.”
Grönholm’s co-driver for the Tuuri Ralli, Timo Rautiainen, a two-time world champion co-driver, performed his role excellently. Rautiainen was the co-driver for Niclas’s father, Marcus Grönholm, during his active career.
Rautiainen made a one-off return to the co-driver’s seat after a few years’ break.
“Timo at some point lamented these modern pace notes, thinking they contain a lot of information. However, after a long break, it was an impressive performance. Timo thought it was ‘fun,’ but immediately added that ‘this was a one-time deal’,” Grönholm smiled.
The recently published World Rallycross Championship calendar would allow Grönholm to participate in all the remaining summer rounds of the Finnish Rally Championship. However, future plans will be decided later.
“We’ll see what we can do. However, we aim to compete in the next round in Turku,” Grönholm revealed.
The Finnish Rally Championship continues with the Länsirannikon Ralli in Turku on 24-25 May.
