Marcus Ulf Johan "Bosse" Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finnish former rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming FIA World Rallycross Championship driver. Grönholm's nicknames are either "Bosse" (mainly in his native Finland and the Scandinavian countries) or "Magic Marcus". Grönholm is one of the most successful WRC drivers of all time, ranking third in rally wins (30), and winning two championships, in 2000 and 2002. After Peugeot withdrew from the World Rally Championship, Grönholm moved to Ford for the 2006 season and placed second in the drivers' world championship, losing out to Sébastien Loeb by one point. The next year, he again placed second, four points behind Loeb. He and his co-driver Timo Rautiainen retired from rallying after the 2007 season but returned to the championship in 2009 driving a private Subaru for a short period of time, and in the 2019 World Rally Championship where he competed in a Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT-maintained Toyota Yaris under the GRX Team banner.
Grönholm's father, Ulf "Uffe" Grönholm, had been an active rally driver in the late 1970s to early 1980s, and with measurable success too, winding up twice Finnish champion. He was killed during a practice run for Hankiralli on February 25, 1981, in Kirkkonummi. Despite this connection, his son, only 13 years old at the time of his father's death, was latterly to refute any suggestion that it was Ulf, and not fellow rally-driving cousin (and occasional Peugeot factory squad teammate at various points during the early 2000s), Sebastian Lindholm, who tempted him into following in his father's footsteps by also participating in the sport. In his teens Grönholm was fond of motocross as a recreational activity, but a serious knee injury forced a switch to boxing.
Grönholm featured in various bit-part roles in the world series throughout the 1990s, most notably with Toyota with whom he drove Celicas and Corolla WRCs. Much considered as a late-bloomer he did not become a factory driver until his early 30s. A staggering string of fastest stage times one year as a privateer, on the final day of the Rally Finland, subsequently brought him to the attention of such factory teams as Ford, Toyota and Peugeot, who all presented him with offers for further employment. It was only when he joined the latter marque, championship newcomers for 1999, that he began to enjoy such meteoric success.
After suffering an engine failure on the season-opening round in Monte Carlo in 2000, Grönholm took his first championship win on the Swedish Rally the following month, with the 206 WRC. Consequent wins, including on his home round of the series, were sufficient to see off closest points challenger, Subaru's Richard Burns and land a shock first title after finishing second to the Englishman in the Rally of Great Britain. After an irksome and unsuccessful championship defense in 2001 during which assorted mechanical problems kept him down to fourth overall in the points table, he easily won his second title in 2002.
In 2003, Peugeot stuck with the same lineup as 2002 (Grönholm, Burns, Panizzi and Rovanperä) and also the 206. The only change was that the team now had major sponsorship from cigarette giants Marlboro painting the cars red and white. However the 206 was now four years old and showing its age. Grönholm covered this with three wins in Sweden, New Zealand and Argentina (the latter after an incident with a bank which dropped him to as low as 6th); however fuel pressure issues in Greece and a broken Propshaft in Cyprus meant Grönholm lost valuable points. A second in Germany was followed by accidents in Finland, Australia and Italy and by this stage he had fallen to sixth in the Championship. Fourth in France and sixth in Spain after a wrong tire choice was followed by another crash in Great Britain when he hit a pile of logs on a stage. The police soon caught him and despite his best efforts Grönholm was forbidden to go back to service. He finished sixth with 46 points.
In 2004 Peugeot introduced the new 307 to replace the 206, but the car was plagued by gearbox and power steering woes throughout the season. Grönholm took an immediate dislike to the new car because of its poor reliability, battling gearbox problems in Monte Carlo and power steering issues in Sweden. After more power steering woes in Mexico he stated "I'm fed up with this car". An eventful second in New Zealand was followed by heartbreak in Cyprus: Here, Grönholm thought he had taken the 307's first win but after the event both he and teammate Harri Rovanperä (who finished fifth) were disqualified for illegal water pumps. A damaged suspension took him out in Greece, while despite a second in Turkey, co-driver Rautiainen suffered two broken bones in his bottom after they ran over a loose steel rod lying on the stage they were driving on which went through Rautiainen's seat - this incident went viral when after a reporter's question, Grönholm explained that something went through the seat "up in the ass of Timo". In Finland everything clicked despite a gearbox issue and Grönholm finally got a win he was allowed to keep, but he went from hero to zero by crashing on the first stage in Germany. Spain would be his last podium of the year, coming home second after winning a battle with Carlos Sainz. This meant Grönholm finished a frustrating fifth with 62 points.
For 2005, Peugeot switched from Michelin to Pirelli tires, feeling that they could win on different rubber and to give Pirelli opportunities with other teams as only Subaru used their rubber in 2004. Grönholm also had a new teammate in Markko Märtin as Rovanperä joined Mitsubishi. After a difficult start with crashes in Monaco and Sweden Grönholm finished second in Mexico and New Zealand and was in contention for the win in Italy until a hefty roll down a hill cost him a heap of time and he had to settle for third. Retirement in Cyprus was followed by another third in Turkey where he lost a fight with Solberg for second; however both were comfortably beaten by Loeb who dominated the year with ten wins and Michelin tires that were superior to the Pirelli on the Peugeot. Groholm criticised the 307's speed in Argentina where despite coming second he stated "It's impossible to go faster with this car". He did take two wins in Finland and Japan, both of which creating contrasting emotions. In Finland he won his home rally for the fifth time despite Rautiainen having another bizarre injury when he damaged a vertebra over a jump. The Japan event came just a week after the death of Märtin's co-driver Michael Park after a crash in Great Britain (Grönholm was therefore withdrawn from the event) and Grönholm was set to finish second until rally leader Petter Solberg crashed on the penultimate stage handing Grönholm the win. It would be Grönholm's last with Peugeot as he retired from the last three events of the year in France (gearbox issues) Spain (technical failure) and Australia (damaged suspension) and although he tied with Solberg on 71 points, the Norwegian pipped him to second with more wins (3-2) so Grönholm finished third. At the end of the year, Peugeot left the championship and Grönholm needed to find a new team.
For the 2006 season, Grönholm switched to the Ford team, driving their all-new 2006-specification Focus RS WRC. On his debut, in January, he won his first ever tarmac rally in Monte Carlo, beating Sébastien Loeb by over a minute, albeit beaten by the Frenchman on the road with the championship's unliked 'Superally' regulations coming to his rescue as a shunt for the Citroën hastened its exit from Leg One. Although he was to follow this up with an entirely credible win in the second event of the season, Sweden, subsequent events saw Loeb surge past into a comfortable lead: the Frenchman was to never finish below second place in every event he entered, while his adversary was left to rue a string of retirements and errors that stymied his challenge.