Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi has clinched Rally Sweden, marking only the second win of his career in the World Rally Championship. His first victory came behind the wheel of a Toyota in the 2017 Rally Finland.
“F***ing good! I’ve been hunting for this second victory for quite a while. I would like to thank a millions but probably I’ll forget many of them. But many thanks to Cyril, he kept me in the team after a very bad second half last year. It’s quite a massive contrast from that moment until now. So thanks to the team. And family as well,” Lappi said, visibly moved.
Lappi’s victory was practically sealed on Saturday morning when Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta slid out of the victory contention. From then on, the Finnish driver could simply consolidate his position. In the end, his lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans was a comfortable 29.6 seconds.
Evans ascended to second place on Sunday, surpassing M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux by 18.9 seconds.
“I lost it all on the last couple of corners in the arena. Not so good. Anyway, I guess we can be happy with this result, come the start of this weekend and especially what happened on Friday. Overall we can be relatively happy,” Evans shared
Adrien Fourmaux of M-Sport Ford emerged as the biggest surprise of the Rally Sweden, driving a flawless race to secure third place. This podium is his first at the top level of WRC.
“It’s really good for us to be on the podium after coming back to Rally1. Two really hard years have passed but we’ve never given up. To be on the podium for the first time here in Sweden, it’s so special. I have no words. It’s just nice,” an emotional Fourmaux revealed.
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä took the victory on Sunday’s Power Stage, along with six points, being the second fastest of the day after Evans. Rovanperä eased off on the day’s second stage to allow the Welshman to advance in the day’s overall timing. Evans and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who finished fourth in the rally, were only a tenth of a second behind Rovanperä on the Power Stage. Neuville notably left his entire boot lid behind on a big jump, showing no lack of effort
“I didn’t drive so well on this stage. I think I could have been a bit faster with two spares, because now one front tire was not optimal. Bit disappointing this weekend, not what we came here to do,” Rovanperä concluded.
WRC2 class was dominantly won by Oliver Solberg. Driving Toyota’s new Rally2 car, Sami Pajari finished as the class runner-up and sixth overall, just 2.5 seconds ahead of Georg Linnamäe.
Evans scored the highest points over the weekend in Sweden, with a total of 24 points. Lappi received 19 points, and both Neuville and Fourmaux took home 18
The World Rally Championship continues at the end of March in Kenya.
Final results of Rally Sweden:
1. Esapekka Lappi Hyundai 2:33:04.9 2. Elfyn Evans Toyota +29.6 3. Adrien Fourmaux Ford +47.9 4. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +1:46.3 5. Oliver Solberg Skoda +5:04.2 6. Sami Pajari Toyota +6:23.9 7. Georg Linnamäe Toyota +6:26.4 8. Roope Korhonen Toyota +6:48.1 9. Mikko Heikkilä Toyota +7:25.7 10. Lorenzo Bertelli Toyota +7:37.7 11. Lauri Joona Skoda +8:02.8
