Ready to take on Loeb and SolbergWhile Marcus Gronholm is looking forward to rallying with Ford this year, the Finn does admit the withdrawal of Peugeot, Citroen, Skoda and Mitsubishi is a blow for the World Rally Championship. On the plus side however Grönholm does see the rule changes that allow privateer teams to compete for manufacturer points as positive aspect.
"Kronos is taking care of Citroen Xsaras and double champion Loeb," Grönholm stated on his personal web site. "Bozian is running Peugeot 307`s and there is a Skoda equipped private team as well. And just few days ago we learned that Mitsu is maybe bringing some cars to start line at least in Monte and Sweden. We have lost some manufacturers but luckily rally as a sport has not suffered any big damage. Not yet."
In order to bring new teams into the series, Grönholm believes that cost cutting is the answer to bringing in new blood to the sport. "Several different methods have been discussed and in the near future we maybe can wait some news from one or two new manufacturers," Grönholm continued.
While there may be a lack of depth when it comes to the world`s largest car makers competing in the series, the talent behind the wheel remains strong and Grönholm expects the battle for title honours this year to be between himself, Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg.
"Last year Seb was almost unbeatable, though," warned Grönholm. "What is now different then? Despite of so called `private team` Seb is still as fast there is no doubt about that. Petter has let everybody to understand that they have made some major steps in development in their team. I honestly can not yet tell how we will be compared to them but I am optimistic and I don`t believe we are slower than last year. Soon we will know..."
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