The former WRC champion was running inside the Top 8 during the first few stages of the rally, when hitting some electrical problems with his car. A further puncture in the event slowed him down by approximately 20 minutes, eventually throwing him out of the point-scoring contention by the final day.
Nevertheless, considering this was his very first rally outing in almost a year, Gronholm's performance impressed his Rally Sweden backer Mattias Therman, who finished the event some 3 positions behind, in 24th place. The Finnish businessman admitted he wants to secure Gronholm additional entries through the 2010 WRC championship, but only on the condition that other sponsors would step in as well.
“I would like to help Marcus again, but this is not something we have discussed. When it comes to the future it's a big question mark and if you ask Marcus he would say: 'Maybe'. We'll see. The sponsorship wasn't totally down to me, there were some other companies as well, but if Marcus wants to do this again then I'd be more than happy to help try to find some more money,” said Therman, according to Autosport.
In recent months, it was reported that Therman would push Gronholm into doing another Rally Finland this year – an event he used to win 7 times in the past – but the Finn is allegedly considering going back to Rallycross championships.
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