This cry told everything about the emotional state of Esapekka Lapi – Sweden’s World Rally Championship victory after a wild drama | Sport

It was the second World Cup rally of the season Esapekka Lapin party. Lapland was sure to win when several competitors made mistakes during the race. Second place in the overall competition was wedged by Toyota Elfyn Evans before the big surprise Adrien Fourmaux.

– It feels so good! Very welcome, I have been hunting this for a very long time. I’d like to say a million things, but I’ll probably forget several of them, Lappi expressed in the finish line.

Lappi won his first World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä in 2017, so this is only the second victory of his career. Lappi had a weak end of last season, but was allowed to continue with Hyundai.

– I want to thank you Cyril (Abiteboul), he wanted me back after last season. This is a big contrast to the end of last year. Thanks to the team and family, Lappi thanked the Hyundai team boss at the finish line.

– Welcome home! Lapland added to the end in Finnish.

Sunday’s sprint day was won by Evans, who earned himself 7 MM points for the day’s victory. In addition, he was second in the Power Stage, i.e. the final special exam, for which he got another four extra points. He collected the biggest point pot of the weekend with 24 points.

Halfway through the season, Lappi scored 18 MM points for Hyundai when he led the rally at the end of Saturday.

Kalle Rovanperä started the rally as the biggest favorite to win, but had to stop already on Friday. On Sunday, Rovanperä reached a strong pace and brought his team World Championship points. He was second on Sunday and won the Power Stage. Power’s win was the 18th of his career.

Tänak and Rovanperä fell into mistakes

Friday’s driving day started under the command of Rovanperä, when he clocked the base time for the first special test. The rally did not have time to go much further, when already in special stage 4 both Rovanperä and Hyundai’s Ott Tänak had to be interrupted as a result of walkouts.

Both champion drivers made a driving mistake and drifted into snowbanks.

There was no video footage of Rovanperä’s exit, but the car had taken a hit in the collision.

– On a four-wheel drive, we rolled over and the cooler broke. We also experienced a flat tire. We had to interrupt, it’s a real shame. The start of the race was good. I’m sorry for the team, Rovanperä lamented on Friday in the service park.

Even today, after the situation, he moved slowly forward for a while. The Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux, who was driving behind him, was close to crashing at a really high speed, even after the Hyundai.

In the left turn, Tänak was able to move his car just enough to the right side of the road so that Fourmaux could pass Tänak on the inside. At the finish line, Fourmaux thanked Tänak for driving his car as far as he could. This saved the situation from a crash.

After being interrupted by the favorites, Esapekka Lappi moved to the top of the rally and did a solid job in the battle for victory Toyota Takamoto Katsuta with. Fourmaux rose like a thief to the top positions and did not fall into mistakes. That’s how he went to Saturday in fourth place in the overall competition.

On Friday, in poor conditions, the rally1 cars, which were the first to go to the special tests, suffered from their starting positions.

The rally2 cars that drove later went to the roads plowed by top-class drivers.

– The conditions for Rally1 cars have been so bad that those driving Rally2 cars have had a huge advantage from their starting position. Something similar has been seen, for example, in slippery general special tests, where you cannot take full advantage of the better power, suspension and aerodynamics of top-class cars, ‘s expert Henri Haapamäki summarized the effects of the conditions on Friday.

The situation became concrete when Georg Linnamäe raced in Toyota’s rally2 with the top speed EK 5. Skoda Oliver Solberg was the second fastest in the special test with his rally2 car. Lappi was embarrassingly the best rally 1 car, only the sixth fastest.

He still talked in the evening Thierry Neuville Hyundai technical fault. He didn’t get his car started until the sixth special test. He couldn’t start on time and received a 40-second time penalty.

At the same time, Evans was the first car to enter the last three special tests of the day. This gave rise to the question whether Neuville tacticed a worse starting place for Evans, so that the British driver would fall on the results list and have to start the route from a worse starting place on Saturday.

Neuville himself denied the tactics and said that it was a technical fault that bothered the transitions until the evening.

Katsuta ruined his rally on Saturday

Saturday’s most shocking situation was seen when Takamoto Katsuta drove out of the fight for victory. He was only 0.9 seconds behind Lapi, but on EK 10 he made a driving mistake and the car got stuck in the project.

Katsuta had driven through the rally at the risk limits and in the end it backfired.

– A really unfortunate mistake. This, on the other hand, was feared when he drove really hard. From bench to bench, Haapamäki reminded of the situation.

– A little too much ride in a high-speed corner. As in all other Swedish outings, the back corner hits the outside bench, it absorbs the bow with it, he analysed.

After Katsuta’s exit, Lapland’s gap at the top of the rally increased to no less than one and a half minutes. The Finnish striker did a solid job throughout the day and did not make any mistakes.

The Rally2 cars fell from the top positions in the main class as the conditions improved and Fourmaux and Evans completed the top three. Fourmaux had to ruin his brilliant rally at the end of the day, but survived his pit stop with a bang.

Sunday offered no surprises

On Sunday, Rovanperä, Tänak and Katsuta will continue to attack towards the World Championship points. Rovanperä started the morning with a convincing low time and grabbed Sunday’s full points pot.

Tänak did not reach the pace in Finland. Katsuta made a mistake on the second special test of the day and dived into the bench again. However, he managed to continue.

Rovanperä continued to tactic Evans so that the British driver fighting for the World Championship title would get more World Championship points. The top drivers did not take any more risks on Sunday, but were content to ensure a successful finish of the rally. For example, Lapland guaranteed Hyundai the 18 points they earned at the end of Saturday.