Esapekka Lappi will be back in a racing car at the end of the month. The ex-driver M-Sport, Citroën and Toyota driver, among others, will race the home rally, Arctic Lapland Rallye, from February 26 to 28. He will drive a Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 from the Movisport team.
Lappi will team up with Nikolay Gryazin, another of the Italian squad’s bets for their assault on the WRC2 championship. Let’s remember that Lappi already has experience in this championship. The Finn won the 2016 title in a Skoda Fabia R5.
These are the Finnish’s statements to the official WRC website: “We called the team to see the possibilities, and that’s where it all started. The competition is very high in this category too, it won’t be an easy job. It will be a great challenge I think, but my goal is to win“.
The battle is beautiful between the aforementioned competitor and the current leader of the championship, Andreas Mikkelsen. The two will meet under the snow of the Finnish stages, in a test that will also leave strong emotions in WRC2. Lappi already won this rally in 2012 aboard a Ford Fiesta S2000.
Lappi’s program could be extended to more rallyes, as he told the WRC microphones: “I think it is possible to be in more races this season. I have a plan and goal in mind, and it is not just an event. I would like to do more rallies in the future”.
In addition, he adds about the rally: “It is really an adventure because you are so far from everything that not even the phones work. The landscapes are beautiful, but if you stop there, you are really alone. One thing that many drivers have not been faced during the last years is the fog that the snow can have when there are many negative degrees. So if you are the first car, it is fine, but the second one may already have some visibility problems“.
