Lappi and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta were contending for the top spot in the rally during Saturday morning’s first special stage. Katsuta was closing in, reducing the gap to just 0.9 seconds behind the Finnish Hyundai driver.
However, the next stage proved disastrous for the Japanese driver, as he crashed into a bank and was forced to retire.
“I would have preferred to fight for the victory. It would have been fair play in a way,” Lappi commented.
Following Katsuta’s exit, Lappi’s lead extended to a massive one and a half minutes ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux. This means he doesn’t have to push to the limit on the special stages anymore. There’s plenty of room for caution.
“This has now become more difficult. I have to be satisfied with the situation, but it’s annoying to drive like this. The weather is great, and so are the roads, but you can’t enjoy it when you don’t dare to push as you should,” Lappi said.
“I need to finish and bring points to the team. And of course, I also want to win. The gap is big, so I don’t need to push. But on the other hand, you lose rhythm if you don’t push at all. I just have to drive efficiently.”
Conditional points will be awarded to the top ten drivers based on Saturday evening’s results. If Lappi is in the lead by then and completes Sunday’s stages, he and Hyundai will secure 18 WRC points.
Lappi speculated that Hyundai might not want him to compete for Sunday’s daily points or the additional points from the Power Stage.
“I guess there might be some kind of directive tonight, that I can continue in the same style as today,” Lappi chuckled.
