When sparks fly: Behind the scenes at World RX Finland

EV Powered went behind the scenes with the CE Dealer Team on a weekend when local hero Niclas Grönholm was cruelly denied a second home victory on the FIA World Rallycross Championship’s return to Finland.

Stepping into the pit area of the CE Dealer World Rallycross team, I’m met with the sight of the team’s two drivers – Niclas Grönholm and Klara Andersson – engrossed in a game of Yahtzee.

“Morning,” says Grönholm, looking up. “Yeah, this is getting really serious now. It might turn into a bit of a grudge match, actually.”

Grudge match or not, it’s an oddly low-key and low-stakes activity amid a weekend that’s anything but low-stakes.

We’re in the pits at Finland’s KymiRing where the fourth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship is taking place and Grönholm and Andersson are representing team electric in the EV vs ICE battle of the technologies.

Grönholm is currently locked in a battle for his first championship title with KMS’ Johan Kristofferson, who is seeking his eighth. And this weekend is an opportunity for the 29-year-old Finn – son of two-time World Rally Champion, Marcus Grönholm – to claw back ground lost in the previous round.

In Hungary last time out, Grönholm had a disastrous time as Sweden’s Kristofferson stormed to a dominant win. However, here in his native Finland, the advantage lies with Grönholm. The Finn won the last Finland World RX event in 2020, and has home support on his side.

That we’re here at all in Finland – 50km from Lahti, the industrial capital of the country’s ‘lake land’ region – is a bit of a miracle. At the start of the year it wasn’t even clear whether there would be any racing in 2025.

Yet since World RX’s management was brought in house by the FIA, the championship has borne witness to four different winners from five events, and an epic title battle between Grönholm Jnr and Kristofferson.

After relinquishing his championship lead to Kristofferson in Hungary, Grönholm is looking to claw back the seven points he lost to the Swede and has got off to a good start in his homeland, setting the fastest time in Finland RX’s second round of qualifying on Saturday.

Despite having qualifying sessions three and four, plus the final ahead of him on Sunday, the big, softly-spoken Finn seems quite happy to concentrate on his game of dice with teammate Klara – the first female to claim a World RX podium.

Meanwhile, the CE Dealer Team’s hospitality staff busy around, loading up bowls and plates with chocolate biscuits, cakes, and candies including salmiakki – a Finnish salted liquorice – to cater to team members’ and guests’ sweet tooth. Coffee pots are filled to the brim. The Finnish capacity for alcohol is well-documented. The Finnish love for all things sweet and caffeinated is less-so, but equally prolific.

As the clock ticks down to the third qualifying session, mechanics  swarm, bee-like in their black and yellow team kit, over the CE Dealer Team’s two all-electric PWR-run RX1e cars to prepare them for battle; their 52kWh batteries are topped up for the session’s four short laps, as both Niclas and Klara seek to make it through to the final race of the Finland World RX weekend.

Team principal, Jussi Pinomäki, a steely, determined Finn of few words looks on at the hive of activity, knowing what a home win would mean for Grönholm, and the championship. At the same time, Grönholm Snr walks into the back of the garage and makes an immediate dive for the candy bowl.

He greets me with a fistbump, pointing to my shoes and says “I have the same ones as you, a stylish man I see!” Now 57, the man responsible for some of the WRC’s most memorable quotes and 30 career victories is, happily, exactly the same as he was during his time in the sport – an enormous, chaotic-yet-friendly presence who now happens to be shovelling sweets in his mouth at an alarming rate of knots.

“My wife is always telling me I need to lay off the sugar but she isn’t here yet!” he laughs. “Do you want a coffee?” Decked out head-to-toe in CE Dealer Team kit, the elder, 6’4” Grönholm lopes off for a meet and greet at the front of the pit awning, where he’s swamped by autograph hunters and fans clamouring for selfies. He makes time for everyone who approaches.

As the younger Grönholm and Andersson head out for Q3, the former’s mum arrives. Much more akin to Niclas in character, she says hello to everyone and quickly heads off to her own space to watch the session. Despite his having competed in the World RX since 2015, she still worries about Niclas. As Marcus says: “He’s her baby, albeit one who’s nearly 30.”

In Q3, Niclas starts second but takes the lead after a tyre-smoking pass into the first corner at the end of the KymiRing’s 1.1km straight. Watching on a TV screen in the back of the awning, the Swedish CE Dealer Team’s largely Finnish technical crew holler and cheer their driver’s performance with a chorus of Finnish rally noises. You know, the likes of “oiiiii… ai, ai, ai”.

He returns to the garage to a round of applause and sums his performance up with a laugh and a succinct “that was not s**t”. While Marcus didn’t compete in World RX and Niclas has not competed in the WRC as of yet, the sense of humour shared between father and son is extremely close.

As Niclas gets changed to meet the team’s guests – this weekend, they’re Volvo employees over from Sweden – the mechanics begin changing bumpers, buffing out battle scars and wiping the cars down to prepare for Q4. A whine, not dissimilar to that of an air-raid siren, fills the air as both RX1es are cooled.

Come Q4, it’s the same again. Niclas takes the lead and the heat win. The team cheers him on around the TV, while his parents watch it in the privacy of their own motorhome not wanting to be disturbed. The reticent Pinomäki clenches his fist, smiles, and tells EV Powered: “Let’s go for it.”

The turnaround between Q4 and the start of the Finland World RX final is tight. Just 40 minutes. Again, Grönholm lines up second. The atmosphere in the garage turns serious. The playlist – largely metal, of course – blasting out from where the mechanics are working is turned off. Everything everyone in the team has been working for over the weekend comes down to these six laps.

Again, Niclas executes the start perfectly and he’s leading by the first corner. Then as almost as he’s there, he’s hit in the back by PGRX’s Juha Rytkönen. Now tilting sideways, Grönholm’s car takes another blow from Kristofferson’s VW Polo.

The impact from the VW sends an excessive amount of force through the battery of Finn’s car, causing it to shut down on the spot and forcing him to retire. Within the garage, there are no tears, no shouting, no tantrums. Just an enormous sense of disappointment. With Kristofferson finishing second, the championship points gap has grown to 15 points. Stony faces all around.

Grönholm returns to the garage amidst hugs and handshakes. “Blue light,” he shrugs in reference to the car’s on-board indicator that there has been a system failure. Evidently disappointed, the 29-year-old takes it on the chin like a champ. There is, however, an unspoken feeling that World RX Finland was his and CE Dealer’s weekend.

Marcus, meanwhile, is far from happy about Rytkönen’s driving. His compatriot is eventually dropped from third to fifth for his driving by the stewards, albeit some hours after the race.

As the team begins to pack up and Enter Sandman starts up once again, Niclas takes me to one side. With a bone-crushing handshake, he assures me: “I’m not giving up on the championship.”

With just one more round to run, it’s a big ask, but the Finn and his Volvo CE Dealer team are clearly determined to give it their all and whatever the outcome, we’re guaranteed sparks when the title decider hits Istanbul Park in Turkey, on September 21.