After spending much of the first part of the 2026 season competing in FC2, Niclas Grönholm will switch focus at the end of October. The Finn will return to the Hypercar/FC1 category at Montalegre with one clear objective: to fight for victory in the RallyX Global Final.
Grönholm has contested four RallyX races in FC2 this season, showing impressive consistency with three second-place finishes across Valkenswaard and Tierp. The programme has allowed him to remain closely involved in the discipline while simultaneously pursuing a very different campaign in the Finnish Rally Championship.
His return to FC1 will not, however, be entirely unfamiliar. When the FC1-X category was launched in Nitro Rallycross, Grönholm competed in the opening two European rounds at Lydden Hill and Strängnäs in 2022, notably securing a podium at the British circuit in Kent.
Since then, his priorities have been elsewhere. Until the end of the 2025 season, the Finn remained fully committed to the FIA World Rallycross Championship with the CE Dealer Team.
Montalegre, familiar territory
While Grönholm will need to reacquaint himself with the particular demands of the FC1, he will arrive in Portugal at a circuit he knows extremely well.
Montalegre holds a special place in his World RX career. The Finn has won there twice, first in 2021 with an internal-combustion Supercar and again in 2022 during the first season of the electric era.
Those victories form part of an already substantial record at the highest level. By the end of the 2025 season, Grönholm had accumulated nine victories in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Runner-up in the championship in 2025, he had previously finished third for three consecutive seasons in 2021, 2022 and 2023, having also taken fourth place in both 2019 and 2020.
He will therefore return to Montalegre with plenty of experience to draw on.
“I have great memories of Montalegre, including a couple of wins. Portugal has always been quite special to me, so I have very good memories of both Montalegre and Lousada. It’s always nice to come back.”
Still relatively limited experience in FC1
Track knowledge alone, however, will not eliminate all the unknowns.
Grönholm readily acknowledges that he still has relatively little experience in the FC1 compared with some of the drivers he will face. In a Global Final featuring competitors already well accustomed to the car, the Finn does not expect to hold any particular advantage.
“I still don’t have that much experience with the FC1, so I think it will be particularly interesting to drive the car on a circuit like this. At the same time, it will be difficult to compete against drivers who know the car much better. Most of them have also raced at Montalegre before, so I don’t think I have any real advantage in any particular area.”
Limited running ahead of the event will also be a factor.
“Testing will also be limited, so the idea is simply to go there, enjoy the weekend and have fun. I think a podium is a realistic target. Going for the win will be much more difficult, but we’ll do everything we can and see where it takes us.”
That cautious approach inevitably contrasts with his record at the Portuguese venue. With two Montalegre victories already to his name, Grönholm knows exactly what winning there feels like.
“I’ve already touched a little on the possibility of winning here again, but of course it would be something special. Whenever you go racing, you always do so with the intention of winning. That said, we also have to be realistic about this race.”
From rallying back to FC1
Grönholm’s 2026 season has also taken him into very different territory.
Alongside his RallyX appearances, the Finn has returned to a longstanding family tradition by competing in the Finnish Rally Championship. Ahead of the final round of the season at Porvoo this weekend, he currently sits sixth in the overall standings.
That programme has allowed him to work on a very different style of driving before returning to rallycross and the FC1.
At Montalegre, however, he will need to readjust quickly to the demands of a car that differs considerably from the turbocharged FC2 he has raced throughout his RallyX campaign so far.
Grönholm intends to build up progressively.
“It’s still rallycross, and anything can happen in this sport. We’ll take it step by step, with the aim of improving our pace throughout the weekend, and then we’ll see where that takes us. Whatever happens, I think it’s going to be a really enjoyable weekend of racing.”
At the end of October, the Finn will return to a Hypercar category in which he still has relatively limited experience, but on a circuit he knows inside out.
The question now is how quickly he can rediscover his FC1 rhythm and put himself in contention for victory.