Lappi tested with Toyota ahead of WRC Rally Finland 2021
Hi, friends!
Esapekka Lappi from Finland had all the best intentions for his career when he left Toyota for Citroen at the end of 2019 season. But that 2019 happened to be a disaster for him and for Citroen.
That car was so bad that even seven times WRC champion Seb Ogier couldn't improve. It was something down to the chassis and the balance of the car. The car was just undriveable in comparison with Toyota and Hyundai.
Lappi started to loose his confidence and nerve and after he heard that Citroen quit at the end of that 2019 after Seb Ogier left them for Toyota, Lappi was in a trouble. He lost his drive and the only team with available seat was M-Sport Ford. He was still under the contract with Citroen and under their pay so he could drive for M-Sport Ford almost for free.
Coronavirus pandemic hit hard World Rally Championship teams, and especially M-Sport Ford which financed their operations through the selling of their rally cars as well as seat selling which is disgusting to me. They didn't test before the rallies and drivers need training before each event which is called testing.
At the end of the last season, Malcolm Wilson, owner of M-Sport, revealed that they won't extend their contract with Esapekka Lappi so he found himself on street without a job.
At the start of this year he had an outing with Movisport's Volswagen Polo R5 in a Rally2 category which he won in a dominant style and the rally was Arctic Rally Finland, 2nd round of this year's World Rally Championship.
Later he started in Portugal with the same car and the team and he won there as well. That was a sign for Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala, wgo is also a Finn, to bring the boy that gave the a win in Finland 2017 and there is also a strong gossip that he will be part of the team for a shared seat with Seb Ogier in 2022.
Lappi tested again with Toyota after almost a three years and I found a video from the test. Enjoy his testing drive...
Credit for photos and videos to WRC and Youtube
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