I told you so…..

About a month ago I wrote this post.

Guess who's back....

I wondered what Prodrive were playing at when they entered Marcus in Rally Portugal.

I knew it wasn’t the one-off they all said it was and now it seems as if my predictions have come true.

David Lapworth (Big Dave) has told our friends over at crash.net that Prodrive are seriously considering a return to the WRC and are already busy planning another one-off return for later on this year.

Supported by the Portuguese Tourism board the Impreza failed to make it to the end of this weekend’s rally when Marcus characteristically rolled.

But on the stages he did complete the former champion showed how quick he could be in what we all consider to be an awful car and Big Dave was obviously excited by what he saw.

He said he considers Portugal to be unfinished business and says Marcus and Prodrive will back be in the ‘not too distant future’.

I’ll keep you updated as and when I hear any more news on this.

Exciting times.

Weekly round-up 23rd March to 29th March

• Marcus Gronholm is hoping to do ‘something good’ but says it will be impossible for him to win his WRC comeback rally in Portugal next week. He completed a 200km, two day test in Spain to sort out the set up of his car and finalise differential and suspension settings – I don’t think anyone cares where he finishes, the majority of fans just seem to be happy that a bit of the old Marcus magic will be back on the stages.

• Two-time BRC champ Guy Wilks is planning to progress to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Guy’s been linked with Mellors Elliot MS Team, the company responsible for Proton’s Satria Neo Super 2000. He completed a test with the team last month and was ‘very impressed’ with the car – Finally, things seem to be looking up for the Brit.

• The Vodafone Rally de Portugal is next weekend and is the first pure gravel rally of the season. Six consecutive loose surface events follow so the result of this event will be a key indicator of what’s to come.

The big 5-0 for Loeb

Not literally, he’s old but not that old.

I predicted it would happen. It wasn’t that difficult a prediction to make, no Derek Acorah-esqe psychic talent needed with Loeb around.

With 50 WRC wins to his name Seb is now a staggering 20 wins clear of previous record holder Marcus Gronholm and to be honest there’s no one out there who’s going to catch him any time soon.

Well done Seb!

Marcus returns!

He's back!

Well, well well, the big news this week is that two time world champion Marcus Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen are coming out of retirement.

Marcus will be driving the latest specification of the Subaru Impreza WRC2008 for a one-off appearance in Rally Portugal in early April. The car will be run by Prodrive with backing from Rally Portugal and it’s sponsor Vodaphone.

I can’t wait to see the comedy duo back on stages, it’ll be good to get some of that light-hearted banter back that we all know and love.