As most people know, Marcus Grönholm will return to World Rally Championship rallying in Portugal this year driving a Subaru Impreza WRC S14 (the “new” Impreza) for Prodrive. However, don’t expect too much. Everyone knows that the Subaru is a car lacking some speed and a lot in reliability – even Grönholm himself. He says he just want to have fun and compare his speed to the young guns…
So, when comparing speeds, Grönholm will probably keep that in mind. In fact – that’s probably why Marcus chose the Impreza. He can make his comeback in a safe way where he can’t lose, making a half bad result and then blaming the car. I think he realises that it wouldn’t be very smart to get into the Focus, a car that today is the back pocket of Hirvonen, Latvala and to a large extent even Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson. In the same manner it would be stupid to get into the Citroen of Loeb and Sordo. He would risk getting crushed – without anything to blame.
Probably the most interesting question is wether this is a one time outing, or if Grönholm will try to make a true comeback to a full (or close to) season in the WRC? Grönholm himself says it’s a single event and nothing more. But he fills in that after this he will analyse his feelings and decide on the future – indicating that he may do a larger scale comeback…
Imagine that larger comeback, what would it mean? I’m well aware Grönholm negotiated a full season for Subaru before the marque retired from the WRC in December but I can’t think of a full comeback in the Subaru Impreza. Why would Marcus get back to rallying full-time without the real chance of winning? That’s not really a former WRC champion’s style… No, it would probably be in another car – but who would be interested? Marcus is good for sure, but not an upcoming name. So, given the fact that WRC works teams doesn’t really grow on trees – I don’t know, actually…
Anyway, let’s assume Marcus did get a good car, perhaps a Ford. Would he win? And would it be good? Honestly, maybe he’d get few podiums, but in the big picture I don’t think it would be so good. He is getting older and all careers have their end. Running in the Peugeot 307, Marcus made himself an even larger WRC profile than before by being bitter of the car. It worked out really well and was entertaining, but to do that without being considered a boring person requires quite big – and fresh – star quality. It also requires reasonably recent good results – and Marcus doesn’t have all this anymore. People would no longer consider him a genious in a bad position – just a bitter old man not knowing when to end his career.
Counting all those parts together, I really hope that Marcus enjoys his one time comeback in Portugal – and maybe a few more guest entires. But I hope it ends there. Not that I don’t wanna see Marcus drive, I would love it. But I don’t wanna see a good star and a fantastic WRC profile fall off his heights and become a struggler that just didn’t know where to stop. Marcus has proven what he can do – and I think he knows himself that a full time comeback would just be stupid. So, that gives you my bet; don’t expect a full scale comeback.
