GRX Taneco driver Nicolas Gronholm is ready to attack this weekend in Canada, saying his “batteries are fully charged” prior to the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship‘s sole appearance in North America.
The 23-year-old missed two rounds earlier this year in Belgium and Britain due to an appendicitis operation but bounced back in the best way possible by winning on his return to the championship in Norway.
Before departing to Canada, Gronholm said: “I’m really looking forward to the race in Canada – I think we have a good car for the track. I like racing at Trois-Rivières even though it is very tricky in some places and since this is a street circuit, there is no room for errors.”
“It’s been a long break from racing now, my ‘batteries’ are fully charged and motivation is high.”
Staggeringly, Gronholm still has a slim chance of winning the championship, lying 35 points behind championship leader Kevin Hansen. To keep his hopes alive, he will need to at least make the podium to realistically stay in the fight for the title.
Despite competing in every round of this year’s FIA World Rallycross Championship, Gronholm’s teammate Timur Timerzyanov is only in sixth place in the championship and 18 points behind Gronholm.
Timerzyanov gave his thoughts about rallycross in Canada: “Rallycross for North America is still a relatively new thing and I am glad that we can show Canadians how exciting it is. There is always plenty of action and great racing at Trois-Rivières, with sudden weather changes possibly mixing up the field even more.”
The 0.85 miles track (1.37KM) has the characteristics of a street circuit, with the walls close and overtaking very difficult in the middle of the lap. Trois-Rivieres is just one of four tracks that has featured on every FIA World Rallycross Championship calendar, alongside Holjes, Hell and Loheac.
It does not make the challenge any easier as GRX Taneco Team Manager Jussi Pinomäk commented: “We’re all excited to go back racing after the first few weeks of the summer break. Race track in Trois-Rivières is really unique and we will need to work hard to reach the result we are lusting for, but I am confident that the team and the cars are ready for the challenge.”
GRX Taneco are second in the teams’ standings, 43 points behind Team Hansen MJP. The chances of them catching the Peugeot outfit are slim but two cars in the final on Sunday could give them a chance of something special in the remaining three rounds of the year.
