Esapekka Lappi (Finnish pronunciation:[ˈesɑˌpekːɑˈlɑpːi]; born 17 January 1991) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2012 Finnish Rally Champion, 2014 European Rally Champion and the 2016 WRC-2 Champion. He now drives for Hyundai Motorsport. In 2024, he won his second ever event in Rally Sweden, which broke the record for the longest gap between wins in terms of time and number of rallies (81 rallies), with his debut win coming from his home event in 2017 Rally Finland.
In 2013, Lappi competed full season in Asia-Pacific Rally Championship with Team MRF's Škoda Fabia S2000, and selected events in both WRC-2 and ERC with Škoda Motorsport. In APRC, Lappi won three out of six events and finished the season runner-up to his team-mate Gaurav Gill.
In ERC, Lappi competed in three tarmac rallies, winning the last of them Rallye International du Valais in Switzerland. He finished the season fifth in the final standings.
In WRC-2, he also raced in three rallies, winning Rally de Portugal where he also scored his maiden WRC-point finishing 10th overall.
Lappi during Rally Finland 2017, his first WRC victory.
Lappi was signed by Toyota Gazoo Racing to drive a Toyota Yaris WRC in the 2017 World Rally Championship.[4]
On his second event with the team, the 2017 Rally d'Italia, he won his first ever stage in the WRC, along with five more stage wins. He eventually finished fourth. In just his fourth World Rally Car start, at his home event of Rally Finland, Lappi took his first WRC victory.[5] In October 2018, Toyota announced that Lappi would leave the team at the end of the 2018 championship.[6]
Citroën (2019)
He joined Citroën for the 2019 season, partnering with multiple champion Sébastien Ogier.[7] With the Citroën C3 WRC, Lappi finished the season in tenth place after a difficult year with many retirements. He scored three podiums for the French team, by finishing second in Sweden, Finland and Turkey.[8] After the season, Citroën announced they would depart from the World Rally Championship in 2020 after Ogier moved to Lappi's old team, Toyota, leaving Lappi to find a seat elsewhere.[9]
In 2021, Lappi drove a Volkswagen Polo GTI for Movistar (rounds 2, 4) and a Toyota Yaris WRC for RTE-Motorsport (round 10) in the WRC 2 championship alongside longtime co-driver Janne Ferm. Of the three rounds he entered, Lappi won two and finished fourth in the third, ending the season in 12th place on points.[11][12]
At the end of the 2022 season, Lappi signed to Hyundai Motorsport for the 2023 season, meaning he had now driven on behalf of all three major manufacturers in the WRC. Driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally1, he was signed alongside Craig Breen, and now drove alongside Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo, and Teemu Suninen. The 2023 season was also Lappi's first full-time contract since 2020, with the change to Hyundai being based on the Finn's desire for more regular driving in the championship. [14] Lappi would go on to place in sixth in his maiden Hyundai season, ahead of Takamoto Katsuta and behind Sébastien Ogier. He would podium four different times over the course of the season, placing third at Croatia, Portugal, and Estonia, and placing in second at Sardinia.[15]
Lappi would re-sign with Hyundai again for the 2024 season, although this time on a part-time status and only competing on selected events.[16] It was at Rally Sweden that Lappi earned his second WRC win, placing ahead of Elfyn Evans who finished in second place.[17]
Lappi is gluten intolerant. The Citroën service park chef prepares gluten-free dishes for him.[18] One of his sponsors is Moilas, a Finnish producer of gluten-free foods.
References
^"The perfect ending". esapekkalappi.fi. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
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