On Friday, the gearbox exploded, on Saturday, birds flew into the windshield, and tires were lost, and on Sunday, to top it all off, a broken driveshaft. However, Lappi’s speed was on point, indisputable.
Before his issues on Friday, Lappi was in second place in the rally. Also, on Sunday, he would have had enough pace for hunting additional points, but again the technology failed him. Lappi suffered numerous technical issues also last season in Kenya, so it’s no wonder if his patience was nearly running out.
“Mainly downsides. The only positive thing, essentially, is the speed. The pace was good; the car can perform. But the same problem, or even worse than last year, is that reliability is not where it should be,” Lappi vented to RallyJournal.com.
“I tried to ask again the mechanics or engineers, ‘Can I do something differently?’ But they said, ‘You can’t. It’s just bad luck.”
However, Lappi’s driving style alone cannot be the culprit, as similar mysterious gearbox explosions and driveshaft breakages have not occurred with other brands’ cars.
“Maybe the timing is off. You get some load, and then, I don’t know. That’s what they told me. On the other hand, I’ve never had a problem before with any other car,” Lappi wondered.
Two consecutive ordeals in Kenya do not exactly entice the driver to travel back to Africa for the rally.
“No, I’m frustrated,” Lappi quickly retorted.
“It’s legendary; it’s special. But I mean, there’s a limit to how much negativity you can take. And my limit is full. It’s too many problems.”
