Marcus Grönholm, top to bottom: driving the Prodrive Subaru Impreza on his WRC comeback in Portugal earlier this year; in the Service Park in Portugal; tackling Pikes Peak last month in a Ford Fiesta-based racer; on his way to his second WRC title with the Peugeot 206 in 2002; and during his last two WRC seasons (2006-07) he drove a factory-supported Ford Focus.

Former double FIA World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm is sensationally in talks to drive for Abarth on the final round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the inaugural Rally of Scotland. "There have been some discussions but nothing more than that," Grönholm admitted to Motorsport News. This year the Abarth challenge on the IRC got off to a faltering start, although the package has started to improve on recent events. Giandomenico Basso has led the Turin-based outfit's tilt for glory while his young team-mate Anton Alén has been dropped on several occasions.

Although Grönholm officially retired at the end of the 2008 season, the Finn made a brief comeback for Prodrive on the WRC Rally Portugal earlier this year, amazingly leading for a brief period with the brand-new car which was the culmination of a private project. This summer the 2000 and 2002 World Rally Champion has also piloted a Ford Fiesta-based Pikes Peak racer up the famous mountain, coming second in the ‘Unlimited’ class.

Rally of Scotland Clerk of the Course, Iain Campbell, commented, "To get a double world champion like Grönholm would be a great endorsement for the event in its first year. All the main teams are due to be in Scotland and having Grönholm on the entry will provide another star attraction for the many fans we are expecting. The stages are a lot narrower than he is used to but they are fast and flowing and I'm sure he'll like them."

Marcus Grönholm grew up with motorsport flowing through his veins. His father, Ulf, was one of Finland's leading rally drivers in the 1970s and the young Marcus started to compete in motocross at the age of just 13. His career showed promise but a knee injury brought it to a halt in 1986. However, just one year later he gained his driving licence and followed in his father’s footsteps by making his rally debut in a Ford Escort.

He became Finnish junior champion in 1988 and won the national Group N title in 1991 at the wheel of a Toyota Celica. He went onto dominate the Finnish Championship, claiming four outright titles, including a hat-trick from 1996 -1998. Although he made his WRC debut on his home rally in 1989, his chances at the highest level were few and he started only 25 WRC events in 10 seasons. Results, however, were impressive. A fifth place finish in 1994 on the 1000 Lakes Rally, and fourth two years later, both in privately-entered cars, were bettered by fourth in Argentina in 1997. It earned him two rallies with the official Toyota team and he made his mark by leading his home event on the opening two days.

An outstanding performance on the 1998 Rally Finland earned Grönholm his big breakthrough at the age of 31 – a contract to drive with the official Peugeot team the following year. Having scaled down his work as a farmer in 1996, Grönholm was ready for the challenge, assisted by his brother-in-law and co-driver Timo Rautiainen, with whom he had renewed his partnership in 1995.

In 2000 they claimed their first WRC win in Sweden and also won in New Zealand, Finland and Australia to lift the drivers’ title on their first attempt at the full championship and help Peugeot win the manufacturers’ crown. Three more wins followed in 2001, in Finland, Australia and Great Britain, but an awful run of early-season retirements left the Finn in fourth in the drivers’ series.

Grönholm bounced back in 2002 and five victories, including his third successive Rally Finland triumph, earned him his second world title. The wins continued to come in 2003, his fifth season at Peugeot and the last for the 206 World Rally Car. He scored three victories before the French team introduced the 307 World Rally Car at the start of 2004. It proved a demanding car to drive and Grönholm did well to collect a string of podium finishes, as well as victories in Finland in both 2004 and 2005, also adding a Japanese victory the latter year. He currently has 30 WRC victories to his name, including a record-equalling seven wins on the Rally Finland.

Seasons 2006 and 2007 were the most successful in his rallying career. Although he finished second in both seasons, ‘Bosse’, with his team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, brought home two manufacturer titles for Ford. After the 2007 season, Grönholm retired from the WRC and started competing in selected motorsport events like Rally Cross European Championships.