Marcus Grönholm was a WRC legend, but his son Niclas is vying to be a rallycross champion
Photography by Red Bull & Girardo & Co. Archive
Words by Luke Barry
The Grönholm name belongs in rallying. Or at least it did.
While motorsport is filled with examples of children that followed in the footsteps of their parents, Niclas Grönholm decided to chasie world champion status in a different place instead – rallycross.
The obvious question is why?
As Niclas shares on the Stage Mode podcast, he wasn’t embedded in the service park since day dot like, say, Oliver Solberg was. His rallying memories were far more domestic.
“Rally Finland was the only rally I used to attend with my mom or family,” Niclas tells DirtFish. “I didn’t travel so much with my dad when he was driving, but Rally Finland we always went there every year.
“Those Peugeot times when he did Rally Finland are a memory I won’t forget. Let’s put it like this.”
Niclas has vivid memories of watching Marcus compete at Rally Finland - but not much else
But at such a young age, he wasn’t truly aware of what his dad was achieving. Marcus was travelling for 250 days a year, and when he came home he wouldn’t really talk about the WRC.
“He was traveling so much when I was younger, so we didn’t have too much time together,” Niclas recalls. “And we didn’t talk about it too much at home. Work was work, and he didn’t bring it home. That’s what I remember at least.
“But of course you would go to the supermarket and everybody would be like, ‘what a great race, congrats on the win or the championship’ or whatever. Yeah, maybe you don’t completely understand how big of a deal it is, but of course it’s there in your everyday life.
“But for me he was, or still is, just dad.”
On the latest episode of Stage Mode, Niclas shares his career story, explaining why he went the rallycross route instead of rallying, and how he’s now taking rallying more seriously today.
He discusses how a “stupid” decision potentially cost him a world title in 2019, picks out his favorite of his dad’s famous stage-end quotes and answers questions from the members of Club DirtFish.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Marcus Grönholm, Niclas Gronholm, Stage Mode, World RX, WRC
Publish Date September 3, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/09/nOkmmktF-SI202408180038-1-780x520.jpg September 3, 2025
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