Tag: Esapekka Lappi

WRC Rally Sardinia: Charging Lappi edges Ogier in Friday duel

Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi (above) demoted Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier in a gripping conclusion to Friday’s opening leg of WRC Rally Sardinia, claiming the tiniest of overnight leads. After one of the most daunting days so far in this year’s FIA World …

Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi (above) demoted Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier in a gripping conclusion to Friday’s opening leg of WRC Rally Sardinia, claiming the tiniest of overnight leads.

After one of the most daunting days so far in this year’s FIA World Rally Championship, where crews braved a total of almost 90 miles of rough gravel stages in changeable weather conditions on the Italian island, the dueling duo found themselves separated by just 0.1s at the overnight halt.

Eight-time WRC champ Ogier, making his fourth start of the year aboard a GR Yaris Rally1, began the morning on a tear and led by a seemingly comfortable 16.3s at the day’s halfway point, having blitzed his Finnish rival through the first pass of the tire-shredding, 31-mile Monte Lerno stage.

Sebastien Ogier was the early leader, before Esapekka Lappi’s afternoon charge. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT photo

But the Frenchman’s advantage began to erode as the morning’s three stages were repeated after lunch and Lappi, charging hard in his i20 N Rally1, delivered a masterclass in the leg-closing Monte Lerno 2, turning a 6.7s deficit into that miniscule lead.

“There was no need to push harder; one tenth is enough!” Lappi laughed at the stop line. “I’m glad to be at the finish — that was quite a tricky stage and we got a slow left-rear puncture as well, so that started to disturb (the car) a bit. But we are here, everything is OK, and we are looking forward to tomorrow.”

Despite grappling with an intermittently functioning e-brake, Thierry Neuville fought his way up the leaderboard to make it two Hyundais in the top three. The Belgian trailed Ogier by 18.5s at close of play, with reigning WRC champ and current points leader Kalle Rovanpera another 27.5s behind in his GR Yaris.

Rovanpera had started the final stage down in seventh overall, but the wet conditions played to the 22-year-old Finn’s favor — and to his early starting position. Running first on the road, he experienced the best of the surface conditions and posted the benchmark time, climbing three positions in the process.

Just 1.3s behind Rovanpera was Takamoto Katsuta, who suffered a scare in the morning loop when he hit a rock in his GR Yaris after running wide in a left-hand bend. The mishap cost around 20 seconds and kept his mechanics busy in the mid-leg service.

Completing the Toyota quartet, a right-front puncture toward the end of Monte Lerno left Elfyn Evans 18.2s behind teammate Katsuta in sixth overall. He headed M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak, who overcame a failing water pump in his Puma Rally1, by 4.2sec at the end of the leg.

Ott Tanak is the best of the M-Sport Fords, albeit down in seventh after a water pump issue. M Sport photo

M-Sport Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet was Friday’s only casualty among the hybrid Rally1 entries contending for the overall win. Initially holding a solid third overall, the Frenchman incurred a three-minute time penalty when he couldn’t engage any gears prior to the start of the first afternoon stage. Although the issue was swiftly resolved, Loubet’s rally ended later in the day when he beached his Puma in a ditch on the second run through Monte Lerno.

Hyundai’s Dani Sordo completes the Rally1 runners, but languishes in 12th overall. The Spaniard rolled his i20 N in the morning’s final stage, losing more than three minutes in the process.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Skoda Fabia RS driver Sami Pajari holds a 6.3s lead over Adrien Fourmaux’s M-Sport Ford Fiesta. 

Pajari repeatedly punched in top-three WRC2 stage times, but his breakthrough finally arrived in the day-ending Monte Lerno 2 test, where an inch-perfect drive vaulted the Finn from fourth to first in class. 

Skoda driver Sami Pajari vaulted into the WRC2 lead on the day’s final stage. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Emil Lindholm makes it two Skodas in the top three, ending Friday’s leg 6.8s behind Fourmaux, but far from comfortable as two-time WRC2 champ Andreas Mikkelsen closed to within 2.8s in another Fabia RS.

WRC2 points leader Yohan Rossel struggled to find a rhythm aboard his Citroen C3 Rally2 and ended the day down in fifth in class.

More rain is expected for Saturday’s second leg consisting of double runs through Coiluna-Loelle (10.16 miles), Su Filigosu (12.16 miles), Erula-Tula (13.62 miles) and Tempio Pausania (5.62 miles) for a combined total of 83.12 competitive miles.

WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, leading positions after Day One, SS7
1 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h31m48.8s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +0.1s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +18.6s
4 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +46.1s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +47.4s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m05.6s
7 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +1m09.8s
8 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +3m48.5s
9 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2) +3m54.8s
10 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hamalainen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +4m01.6s

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Flawless Lappi edges Ogier in WRC Rally Mexico’s dramatic day one

Esapekka Lappi put in a faultless performance in the scorching heat and power-sapping altitude of WRC Rally Mexico to fend off six-time winner Sebastien Ogier during Friday’s dramatic opening leg. Despite several of the FIA World Rally …

Esapekka Lappi put in a faultless performance in the scorching heat and power-sapping altitude of WRC Rally Mexico to fend off six-time winner Sebastien Ogier during Friday’s dramatic opening leg.

Despite several of the FIA World Rally Championship’s leading crews running into trouble on the grueling, dust-clogged stages in the mountains around Leon, Hyundai driver Lappi (above) steered clear of drama to head Ogier’s Toyota on the first gravel round of the season.

Lappi’s i20 N Rally1 led from the outset after grabbing the top spot in the morning’s opener. But eight-time WRC champ Ogier, who’s chosen to run only a limited program of rallies with Toyota, stayed right on his tail in his GR Yaris Rally1, with the duo exchanging times for much of the day.

But it was Lappi’s impressive performances in the afternoon’s closing run of special stages which made all the difference. Back-to-back stage wins in Las Minas and Las Dunas gave the Finn some much-needed breathing space and, while Ogier clawed back some time in the Distrito Leon super special, 5.3s split the pair at close of play.

Sebastien Ogier is seeking a seventh Rally Mexico win, but trails Esapekka Lappi after day one.

“I am a bit surprised, but I take it as it is,” Lappi said at day’s end. “This was probably one of the best days of my rallying career.

“I always hoped that I could fight at the top, but to be leading and fighting against Seb was never in my mind. I didn’t really think about how this day would go, but I was just confident that our pace would be good.”

Elfyn Evans filled the final podium spot, finishing 24.8s behind his Toyota GR Yaris teammate, Ogier. As temperatures neared 85 degrees F and sections on some stages reached 9,000ft in altitude, it was a trying day for crews and cars alike, with the thin air sapping engine power by as much as 20 percent. But the Welshman’s struggles were limited to a lack of traction on some of the tests.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was hampered by hybrid unit failure in the morning, followed by a seized rear-right damper and damaged driveshaft boot in the afternoon. He pressed on regardless, reaching the overnight halt just 9.7s adrift of the podium in his i20 N.

Starting second on the road, reigning WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera was severely affected by the loose conditions – the early runners effectively road sweepers for the cars starting further down the running order. As a result, the Yaris driver lost time in almost every test, ending the day fifth and a sizable 19.9s down on Neuville.

Meanwhile, Hyundai’s Dani Sordo leaked around a minute when he limped through the day’s fifth test with left-rear tire damage, dropping from fourth to sixth overall.

Championship leader Ott Tanak languishes more than 14 minutes back from the lead after crawling through the morning loop with turbocharger failure and starting first on the road – a double whammy of challenges. In fact, it was a disastrous day for the Estonian’s M-Sport Ford team all around, as both teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet and privateer entry Jourdan Serderidis retired their Pumas in the opening stage.

Starting first on the road was bad enough, but a turbo issue destroyed Ott Tanak’s chances.

In WRC2, Gus Greensmith wasted no time in getting to grips with his all-new Skoda Fabia RS, building an 8.5s advantage over former teammate Adrien Fourmaux.

Despite having limited testing time prior to the event, Greensmith appeared comfortable with his Toksport-prepared machine. He consistently posted top-three stage times throughout the morning and reached the mid-leg service just 3.0s down on overnight leader Emil Lindholm’s Skoda Fabia Evo.

That put Greensmith in prime position to pounce in the afternoon when Lindholm dropped 14s on the second passage of the iconic El Chocolate stage, demoting the Finn four positions and leaving Greensmith as the WRC2 leader, where he remained for the rest of the day.

“The morning was a little bit tricky because the tires were overheating, but I knew that once we put the hard tires on I could go much quicker,” said Greensmith, who’s dropped down to the WRC2 class after a frustrating season with M-Sport Ford’s Rally1 Puma in 2022. “It’s a nice lead, but not a massive one. It’s all about managing risks and the pace here, and trying to be tidy.”

Gus Greensmith’s first rally in a WRC2-spec Skoda Fabia RS is working out so far…

Lindholm’s demotion lifted Adrien Fourmaux to second in his Ford Fiesta Rally2. The Frenchman – also regrouping in WRC2 after a trying campaign in an M-Sport Ford Puma last season – is within striking distance of former teammate Greensmith, setting up an exciting second day.

Saturday’s leg is the longest of the event and features nine more challenging stages adding up to 78.62 competitive miles.

WRC Rally Mexico, leading positions after Day One, SS10
1 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h25m12.0s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +5.3s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +30.1s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +39.8s
5 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +59.7s
6 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m27.2s
7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson ((Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +3m50.1s
8 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2) +3m58.6s

Check out WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC+ All Live subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.