Impressive podium for Lappi at Rally Finland

Lappi led the Toyota charge through Friday and much of Saturday, before a freak incident with a rock that deflected up and damaged his windscreen, hampering visibility. He was to encounter further drama in the penultimate stage of the rally, which was heavily rutted. One such rut on the exit of a corner caused him to roll over three times. He was able to complete the stage while losing only 20 seconds and remaining third overall, but he and co-driver Janne Ferm had to carry out roadside repairs including removing the car’s windscreen and topping up a radiator. Incredibly, despite the obvious damage, they lost only 10 further seconds in the final stage to hold onto third by a relatively comfortable 16.9s and score their second podium of the season.

“It’s so good to be here at the finish. After a lot of bad luck, including yesterday, we were lucky today that we were able to continue after the roll. It was a big surprise: I know the corner very well, I saw on the first pass that there was space on the exit you can use, but now there was a huge rut which caused the car to roll immediately. Thankfully this is the Rally of 1000 Lakes and we could get some water for the car. We managed to fix every issue and get to the Power Stage, and then we lost most of the roof on the first acceleration so there was a lot of wind and noise in the car. It was a bit too much action for one rally, so I have some mixed feelings, but I’m happy to be on the podium.”