WRAPS COME OFF G RON HOLM WORLD RALLY CROSS SQUAD
Two hyundaii 20s for world rally legend’ s fresh attack on top-fight competition
Marcus Gronholm’s GRX team will field a pair of Hyundai i20 Supercars for former European Rallycross champion Timur Timerzyanov and Gronholm’s son Niclas in the World Rallycross Championship this season.
Motorsport News revealed the double World Rally champion’s plans to adapt a pair of EX-WRC i20s for World RX this year last November.
The GRX Taneco squad revealed its new car and driver line-up at Gronholm’s base in Inkoo, Finland, on Tuesday. It plans to begin testing within the next two weeks.
“We have chosen to use the i20 for this programme because of my previous connections with Michel Nandan [Hyundai WRC Team principal],” said Gronholm.
While the cars, based on 2016 WRC machines, have been purchased from Hyundai, GRX will be a private effort in 2018. “We have a good relationship [with Hyundai], but we don’t have any manufacturer backing like some of the other teams in World Rallycross,” added Gronholm.
“We have a lot of information from when we bought the cars from Hyundai and so far the car looks very good. We know Timur can get the results and Niclas has been working hard this winter. I will be surprised if we can’t be fighting with the big boys at least sometimes. The first target is semifinals, then the final and podium.”
Russian driver Timerzyanov will drive for the fifth different team in as many years this season, but says he has been desperate for such a move since parting ways with the Peugeot-Hansen squad in 2014.
“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, maybe since the end of 2014 actually and I’m really excited,” he said. “This is a big step for the future, on the technical side with the car and the whole team. It’s a good feeling to work with Marcus too: he understands me as a driver. He has the same targets as me for this season, to get good results and he knows the best way to achieve that. We need to be consistent all the time and I see no problems with racing among the top drivers.”
The cars are being adapted for rallycross use by Gronholm’s GRX squad and the SET Promotion team. Team manager Jussi Pinomaki will be reunited with Timerzyanov. He ran the Russian driver to the European Super1600 title in 2010.