A seat unexpectedly opened up at Hyundai’s WRC team when Ott Tänak decided, at least for the time being, to step away from the rally stages. The Korean manufacturer opted to return to a familiar formula, with three different drivers sharing the team’s third car. In addition to Lappi, driving duties this year will also be taken on by two other veteran drivers, Spain’s Dani Sordo and New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon.
Lappi will be kept busy this season, as in addition to an estimated four to six WRC rallies, his programme once again includes the Finnish Rally Championship, as it did last year. That series already gets under way on 17 January with the Mikkeli round.
At the end of the 2024 season, the Finnish driver had already stated that his WRC career was over, after Hyundai did not renew his part-time contract but instead handed full seasons to three drivers. This time, Lappi is more cautious with his words.
“It feels like whenever I nail something down, within a week my comment is completely turned on its head. So let’s not nail anything down this time,” Lappi laughs when asked by RallyJournal.com whether this will now be his final WRC season.
“It is a fact, though, that this is a one-year project. We’ll see in the autumn where we stand and what happens then. I honestly haven’t thought that far ahead yet, as there has been so much to process.”
Last season, Hyundai’s Rally1 car was unable to match Toyota’s machinery in terms of performance. Admittedly, the entire Hyundai WRC team was going through a period of transition, with attention also turning towards the WEC circuit series, but there is no denying that the team’s drivers repeatedly struggled with car set-up issues.
When Lappi last drove for Hyundai, team leader Thierry Neuville admitted that he had received help with the set-up, especially on snow and for fast gravel rallies. Hyundai introduced an updated version of its i20 N Rally1 car at the start of last season, but particularly early in the year there were problems.
Now Lappi returns to the Korean brand after a year away, but remains cautious when asked what kind of task lies ahead.
“There will certainly be work to do, everyone knows that. We’ve seen that there are challenges, and there were challenges already the last time I was there. However, I’ve heard about new parts, so let’s hope they work better and more intelligently,” Lappi commented.
“And if they also happen to be parts that suit me personally, then hopefully we can knock together some kind of tool again.”
