The GRX Management Team owner and former world rally champion Marcus Grönholm wants to see his driver Jari Huttunen back in a Rally1 car after a good performance on the debut in Rally Finland last weekend, scoring a points finish in ninth place overall.
Grönholm who is the mentor for Huttunen has told in an interview with WRC.com he wants to see the 28-year-old Finn get established in the Rally1 class and Grönholm do believe the time is right to do it now. Grönholm has a strong connection with the M-Sport squad, which Huttunen was driving for on his debut and now after the frustrated results Grönholm is in talks with Malcolm Wilson to give Huttunen more opportunities as the Ford Puma Rally1 had issues with fuel pressure and a power steering failure.
“I’m not looking at a five-year plan, we need to come somewhere in the next one or two years. It is time to move forward. OK, there are not Rally1 cars easily available and places free, but I hope he can do some good times when he becomes familiar with the car. He won the WRC3 title two years ago but never had the chance to go further. Now we are with M-Sport and Ford and now he had his first chance, finally, to have his first test with a Rally1. It is not easy to come here following his one-day test and to show his speed against others who have been in the car many times is not easy. So far, he is doing OK.”” Grönholm told WRC.com.
Huttunen who is the 2020 WRC3 champion, has already a WRC2 program with M-Sport for this season but the Finn is eager to get more rallies in the Puma soon and through Grönholm´s connections with the official WRC partner Wolf Lubricants, Huttunen could get the backing needed to drive in Finland; “I want to drive this car again, of course, but I don’t know when, I have to thank my sponsors for making it happen for me in Finland. I was going step-by-step and making good progress. The car feels amazing, when we had the problems, all I could do was drive and make no mistakes. I did that.” Huttunen told WRC.com.
For the upcoming Ypres Rally in Belgium next weekend, Huttunen will be back in the M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 in the WRC2 class.
