Lappi dominated the fast gravel roads of Päijät-Häme right from the opening stage. Across the rally’s nine special stages, he set six fastest times and secured overall victory with a commanding margin of more than one minute.
The win was effectively sealed on Friday’s stages, when Lappi’s main rivals ran into trouble. Niclas Grönholm was forced to retire with a technical issue, while Tuukka Kauppinen lost time with a puncture and then became stuck in a ditch.
Together with co-driver Enni Mälkönen, Lappi has now won four Finnish Championship rallies in a row. After finishing runner-up to Kauppinen in their season opener in Rovaniemi, the pair have celebrated victories in Savonlinna, Turku, Kouvola, and now Lahti.
That run of success has put Lappi and Mälkönen within touching distance of the SM1 class title. They hold a commanding 31-point lead over Kauppinen and his co-driver Sebastian Virtanen.
“It was a fairly consistent performance all weekend. We had a small issue with the car, but it didn’t really affect us yesterday. Yesterday I could push really hard, but today the approach was calmer,” Lappi explained.
Rytkönen matched his career-best result in the Finnish Championship by finishing second, but he admitted Lappi’s pace was untouchable.
“In terms of the result this was quite good, but there’s still a lot to improve in my driving,” Rytkönen summed up.
Kauppinen, currently second in the championship standings, saw his chances unravel on Friday, though he eventually salvaged the fourth-highest points haul in SM1. In the overall classification he finished outside the top ten.
Kauppinen still has a mathematical chance of taking the title, but in practice it would require him to win the final round while Lappi suffers a complete disaster.
“Today was just about driving and enjoying it. It’s a shame that yesterday things collapsed because of my own mistake. But there’s still hope, and we’ll try to fight without mistakes and go for the win in Seinäjoki. There are still possibilities,” Kauppinen said.
Swedish driver Jari Liiten completed the podium in Lahti, claiming his first-ever Finnish Championship top-three finish.
In SM2, victory went to Ville Vatanen, who also impressed with fourth place overall. Vatanen beat Patrick Enok by 18.1 seconds, though second place was enough for Enok to clinch the SM2 title ahead of the final round.
The Finnish Rally Championship season finale will be held around Seinäjoki at the end of September.
Lahti SM Rally results after SS9/9:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Esapekka Lappi | Skoda | 50:06.9 |
| 2. | Anssi Rytkönen | Skoda | +1:01.2 |
| 3. | Jari Liiten | Skoda | +1:40.7 |
| 4. | Ville Vatanen | Renault | +1:58.2 |
| 5. | Patrick Enok | Ford | +2:16.3 |
| 6. | Joonas Lindroos | Ford | +2:41.4 |
| 7. | Jarno Pentinpuro | Mitsubishi | +2:43.8 |
| 8. | Shotaro Goto | Renault | +2:44.5 |
| 9. | Valentino Ledda | Renault | +2:49.5 |
| 10. | Takumi Matsushita | Renault | +2:53.4 |
