Niclas Gronholm targets World RX title on return with father's team
Niclas Gronholm, son of two-time World Rally Champion Marcus, is targeting the World Rallycross Championship title on his return to the series with father’s GRX-SET squad this year.


Gronholm Jnr will be joined in a two-car line-up by Hungarian Krisztian Szabo, with both drivers entered in the team’s WRC-derived Hyundai i20s in the headline World RX category.
While Gronholm has won three World RX rounds over the last two seasons, only missing out on fighting for the 2019 crown due to missing two rounds with appendicitis, Szabo raced in two double-header weekends with the team last year.
The 29-year old - who won the European RX championship's Super 1600 division in 2016 and 2017, now steps into a full-time seat previously occupied by two-time European RX Supercars champion Timur Timerzyanov.
The Russian had raced with the outfit since 2018 and won at Spa in 2019, but won’t feature in the squad’s full-time effort this year.
Gronholm recently won three rounds from four starts in the RallyX Nordic series, at Holjes, Sweden and Oulu, Finland in preparation for the 2021 World RX campaign. He was joined in the Nordic event at Holjes by Szabo, who finished on the podium.
“My hopes for this season are quite simple, to fight for the championship,” said Gronholm.
“Last year was difficult but I think we learned a lot and we are going in the right direction at the moment.
“We did a lot of experiments with the car in RallyX Nordic and found some good things, and also some areas to work on. I also got to drive a lot and race against some fast guys, which always helps to get you sharp.

Krisztian Szabo, Niclas Gronholm
Photo by: GRX
“I expect the competition in World RX to be similar to the 2019 and 2020 seasons, nothing will be won easily. We will need to be ready to fight and put in the work needed at every round to have a chance to win.”
The GRX team will continue to be operated by Finnish team SET Promotion, lead by team manager Jussi Pinomaki.
“I’m very happy that I can continue with this great team, especially under Jussi Pinomaki and I’m even more pumped that I can finally play a part in fighting for the teams’ championship,” said Szabo, whose last full World RX season came with Mattias Ekstrom’s EKS squad in 2019.
“The Hyundai is very good, I love it.
“It’s hard to know where we will be but it was good to measure myself against some very fast guys in the RallyX Nordic race at Holjes and I’m pretty optimistic that we will be fast this year.
“It’s really great to work with Niclas, I can learn a lot from him and everyone in the team.
“My personal aim for the season is to have a strong and stable results, to be in the finals as much as possible.”
Related video

WRX 2021 opener in Norway cancelled
Triple World RX champion Kristoffersson to switch to Audi

Latest news
Delayed 2022 electric World RX season to begin in Norway in August
The World Rallycross Championship's electric era will start at Norway's Hell track on 13-14 August after delays to allow teams to ready their new cars.
Kristoffersson to defend World Rallycross title with Volkswagen at start of electric era
Johan Kristoffersson will defend his World Rallycross title in 2022 with the Kristoffersson Motorsport-run team switching to a Volkswagen entry, as the series prepares for its electric era.
Kristoffersson crowned 2021 WRX champion tied on points
Johan Kristoffersson claimed his fourth World Rallycross Championship after ending the 2021 campaign tied on points with Timmy Hansen.
WRX Nurburgring: Kristoffersson victory reduces Hansen's lead
Johan Kristoffersson won the first round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship's double-header at the Nurbugring while championship leader Timmy Hansen was disqualified, trimming his deficit to just four points.
From Lebanon to cross-category world titles - a rally legend's top 10
Petter Solberg has called time on his top-flight career after winning titles in two FIA world championships. Here, the 2003 rally and '14/15 rallycross king recalls his 10 best events - including the moment where all his success began
How to make an F1 venue fit for World RX
World Rallycross makes its first appearance at Silverstone this year as part of the 'Speedmachine' festival in May. We take a look at how the new rallycross track fared in its debut event
Volkswagen hasn't disappeared completely
Volkswagen's abrupt departure from the World Rally Championship it was dominating was one of the winter's biggest shocks. Now 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg's World Rallycross team has VW support. What does that mean for World RX and what remains of Volkswagen Motorsport?
Why rallycross is becoming irresistible
Sebastien Loeb started a new journey in his motorsport career last weekend, but he wasn't the only attraction in Portugal. DAVID EVANS examines why the World Rallycross product works so well
The entries are strong, the cars are powerful and it can teach the WRC a thing or two about promotion. But after visiting the Lydden Hill round, DAVID EVANS still has his doubts
New rallycross golden age comes to Britain
The sport began at Lydden in the late 1960s and this weekend the new-look World Rallycross Championship will strut its stuff at the Kent venue. HAL RIDGE explains why it will be unmissable
Solberg: why rallycross is my future
PETTER SOLBERG had a rough first season back in rallycross, but that hasn't deterred him from signing up for the first year of its new era in 2014, as he explains in his AUTOSPORT column
Petter Solberg says that there's still lots to learn about running a successful rallycross campaign, but he's really enjoying getting back to his roots