The Finnish driver’s fate was sealed on the fifth special stage. His journey ended prematurely on the Loldia stage, which was run for the second time on Friday.
Lappi revealed what exactly happened after the day’s events.
“Yeah, the gearbox exploded. First it started to be front wheel drive. After one acceleration, there was no impact and really like a big noise coming from it,” Lappi recounted.
“It just went too far. Front-wheel drive and a couple of hundred meters later no pull anymore from the car at all. It didn’t matter whether it was first or fifth gear. I couldn’t move the car,” Lappi said.
Lappi could not pinpoint a specific place where the gearbox could have been damaged.
“No, where it happened, but for sure, during the first four or five stages today, there have been impacts. But everyone has the same. Nothing which should cause this problem,”Lappi said.
Naturally, the retirement frustrated Lappi. Before the gearbox failure, he had been performing well. He was second in the rally after the morning loop on Friday and was still the fastest at the split time on the fifth stage before his retirement.
“The split was good and the morning was also good,” Lappi said.
“I was still very satisfied for the speed what I had and it seems it was going well until that,” Lappi lamented.
The Safari Rally has not been kind to Lappi in the past, as he suffered technical issues last year in Kenya as well. From all this, he made a stark conclusion.
“I will never come here again. I’ve had enough,” the Finnish driver declared.
Lappi left it open whether he plans to continue.
“I have an idea of what I want to do and I have presented it to the team as well. We’ll see if they agree with me,” Lappi chuckled.
