They say ambition is all it takes, although years of WRC experience probably helps too. That’s why the car you see pictured here will be handed to former WRC champ Marcus Gronholm with just three days of preparation before he contests the Rally of Portugal for a special one-off race.

It’s been 16 months since Gronholm’s last competitive outing in WRC.

Testing will begin in Wales this week before a two day pre-event test in Spain next week.

The WRC2008 Impreza, developed by Prodrive, is almost identical to the car used by the Subaru World rally Team last season.

Prodrive Technical Director, David Lapworth explained: “We have only been able to make minor changes to the car because of homologation restrictions, with the most significant difference being the Ohlins dampers.”

Lapworth also gave credit to the abilities of Marcus Gronholm in regard to the lack of testing time available.

“In a perfect world, Marcus would have had far more time behind the wheel, however, with his years of experience, I am absolutely confident he will very quickly find a rhythm in the Impreza.”

[via CarScoop]