The thrilling news for all British rally fans is that double World Rally Champion, Marcus Grönholm, will be one of the famous names attending – and participating in – the VK Vodka Kick Sponsored Rally Show at Chatsworth. The icing on the cake is that he's bringing with him non-other than a 2008 M-Sport Ford Focus WRC to potter about in!

Mark Deans, Ford’s Motorsport Director, and Malcolm Wilson, Managing Director of M-Sport were both at Race Retro on Friday to confirm to Malcolm Neill that the Finnish super-star would be coming to Chatsworth on June 7th/8th and would be driving a Ford Focus WRC.

“I am delighted that we have been able to arrange this” said Wilson “I had planned to go to the show as I had an invitation as a past winner of the British Rally Championship. But to be able to take Marcus there and let him drive one of our latest cars is just terrific. In the two years that he drove for us, he won twelve World Rally Championship rallies, a performance that helped Ford and M-Sport to win two consecutive Manufacturer titles.”

Certainly, all those fans that have supported him since his first appearance here on the RAC Rally in 1997 driving a Toyota Corolla WRC will welcome Grönholm’s presence back in the UK.

Grönholm was always one of the most spectacular drivers in the World Championship and he was equally entertaining out of the car as he described his own triumphs or disasters to TV interviewers.With Chatsworth’s access-all-areas policy, which enables the paying public to mingle with the cars and drivers in Chatsworth’s open paddocks, enthusiasts get far better access to their heroes than at any other venue.