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Lappi: satisfied and relieved by Finland result
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Esapekka Lappi was back to his best on Rally Finland, finishing second in his Citroën Total World Rally Team C3 WRC.
Together with co-driver Janne Ferm, the 2017 Rally Finland winners were the top-placed Finnish crew home this year, finishing 25.6 seconds behind the Estonian duo of Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) after a faultless and flat-out performance.
With a second place finish in Sweden the only other notable performance in an otherwise disappointing season, this was a result that Lappi badly needed – both to lift his spirits and restore a good relationship with the French team.
This is what Lappi, who is affectionately known as ‘EP’, said after his home round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Esapekka congratulations on second place overall. I know it’s been a tough season out there but you seem transformed here at home in Finland. Some brilliant times coming through from you. It felt like the old Esapekka was back. You were feisty at stage ends, smiling and happy. How are you feeling about the result? “Clearly I feel good and satisfied. A little bit relieved as well. This is the rally where of course as a Finn I want to perform and I am really happy that we managed to do that but this is thanks to the parts that we have got for this rally. I am quite sure that I could not have been this competitive with the previous settings so it was good to get the parts now.”
It obviously gave you a much better feeling. You talked about feeling in control of the car. It was responding to what he wanted to do this weekend. “Exactly. I didn’t need to concentrate on driving at all. I could just listen to pace notes and enjoy the ride because I could do exactly what I wanted and I really didn’t need to think about it which has been the case before. Everything came very naturally and that’s the way it should be.”
We’ve talked before about pressure and you told me that when you are part of a manufacturer team there is always a certain kind of pressure on your shoulders. But coming and competing at home, knowing it hasn’t gone so well so far this season, was there an extra pressure there? “I guess somehow yes but it’s not actually coming from the spectators or media or whatever. It’s actually an extra boost when you come for your home rally. When it has been a bad season so far nobody expected me to actually be on the pace so it was good to give some surprise.”
It’s not a surprise. I think we all know what you can do out there because we have seen you win the event before. We’ve seen you very much on pace before. Can you keep this momentum going? This is not a one-off is it? We’re going to see this for the rest of the season? “I believe so, I really believe. Maybe I will be a bit lower on the pace on other rallies but it should be much better than before. For sure Rally Finland is the place where I can perform at my best level. The car should work now as I want in Wales, in Spain, on gravel, in Australia. It should be a better pace compared to Sardinia or whatever at the beginning of the season.”
Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm wear Stilo WRC DES Zero 8860 helmets.
