This week, the game for a place in the World Rally Championship opened properly when Hyundai announced Ott Tänak too moving to the team for next season. Thanks and Thierry Neuville make up Hyundai’s driver duo.
Tänaki will be the first with the news about the transfer Dirtfish data including Finns Esapekka Lappi and Teemu Suninen would possibly share driving shifts in Hyundai’s third car next season.
Lappi has driven a full season with Hyundai this year.
However, Lapland is not worried about its future in the World Rally Championship after Tänak’s transfer.
– I will definitely get what I want. It hasn’t been stressful at all to follow these things, Lappi describes to Urheilu.
So what do you want?
– You will find out later, he says.
Hyundai described in his announcement, that he is now taking time to figure out the rest of his driver line-up for the upcoming season. According to Lapland, discussions with Hyundai are in progress.
– There is some kind of template being used there, Lappi stated and did not elaborate when asked.
However, he states that he would not be so sure that Hyundai would not have driver positions left for the entire season.
There has also been speculation whether Hyundai will enter the next season with three or four cars for each race.
– There has been talk of a fourth car. However, I have realized that its coming is not certain. To be honest, I don’t know what it’s about at the moment, says Lappi.
There has also been speculation about Lappi’s future that he could move to M-Sport. Suninen and Lappi drove as team mates in the British team in corona year 2020. However, it was a difficult year.
– I think last year I was very strongly brand loyal. Then it went the other way around, what I was talking about. It’s probably better that I don’t announce anything now, says Lappi.
A place for Hyundai this season opened up when Tänak left for M-Sport at the wheel of Ford.
– I consider it very unlikely that I would move elsewhere, Lappi says about his situation.
Positive news from the end of the season
Tänak drove for Hyundai between 2020 and 2022 before switching to M-Sport for this year. Even today, three years at Hyundai were bumpy. He entered the team as the reigning world champion, but managed only five race wins in three years.
However, M-Sport has had reliability problems this year. The team’s budget is also limited.
Tänak, who set the championship as his goal, has won two races this season.
– Tänak’s transfer did not come as a surprise. It has been noticed that his season has not gone as he himself had assumed, Lappi reflects.
– Ott is ambitious and wants to win. Perhaps a return to Hyundai was an attractive idea when a lot has happened in the team since last year.
The 32-year-old from Pieksämäki has been on the podium three times this season, but three races have also ended in elimination. That was the case from the beginning of the season in Mexico, but also in the second half of the year in Finland and Chile.
Lappi described Mexico’s exit as a mistake when he was struggling for victory over Toyota Sébastien Ogier against. In Jyväskylä, on the other hand, there was a note error. According to Lapi, a “funny situation” happened in Chile, which ended badly.
– Those outings shouldn’t happen, but it’s like this for me, Lappi said.
Lapland is in sixth place in the World Cup.
The last two World Cup rallies of the season, in Central Europe and Japan, will be held on asphalt roads.
– It has not been terribly driven on asphalt, and the car has not been the best for me on asphalt. However, I think I found some good stuff and insights about the car the other day. We tried new things that no one has ever tried. It felt like those things would hit my hand just fine. In that sense, I’m even looking forward to seeing them work in the race, Lappi describes.
The Rally World Series continues with the Central European Rally on the roads of Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany on October 26-29. Kalle Rovanperä has a chance to secure a second consecutive drivers’ world championship. With ‘s highly popular World Rally Championship tracks, you can follow every race moment by moment and see the highlights of the races fresh.