“Spain is the year's first real sealed surface event. Competing on home ground, in front of home fans, family and friends is always nice. That said, it can mean extra pressure, too, because you don't want to disappoint,” he noted.
“I am fully conscious of the stakes regarding Citroen and Sebastien. I will do everything I can to help Seb and that means doing as well as I can against his main rival.
"I will endeavour to finish ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and, above all, Marcus Grönholm. The best way Marc Marti and I can help Sébastien and Daniel [Elena] is by depriving their rivals of points.
“We know it won't be easy but I hope I will be able to profit from my good feeling on asphalt, the potential of the C4 WRC and the work everyone at Citroën Sport has put in to make the car so competitive."
BP Ford WRT:
[Marcus Gronholm, car #3 and
Mikko Hirvonen, car #4 [and
Khalid Al Qassimi, car #15 - not nominated for manufacturers’ points]
Retirement decision to spur Gronholm on?
Marcus Gronholm has promised that he will do his all to take the title this season and that his recent decision to retire from the WRC will only serve to make him even more determined.
Gronholm, who currently leads the race for the drivers' championship by 10 points, added though that the two back-to-back asphalt events coming up will definitely be better for his chief rival,
Citroen's
Sebastien Loeb.
"Those two are going to be strong rallies for Sebastien and I need to really do as well as I can," he told
Crash.net Radio recently.
"It is possible to beat him in one of these rallies – that would be fantastic. But otherwise I need to finish second."
Gronholm has started the Rally de Espana, on eight occasions, his best result coming in 2004 when he was second. Last year he was the fastest driver, winning 10 of the 16 stages and leading on the first morning before turbo troubles cost him time and dropped him back to third.
