Last year, Lappi’s Hyundai suffered multiple propshaft failures. Starting promisingly on Friday, he was forced to retire due to a technical fault.
This time, it was the gearbox that terminated its service in the Finn’s car, prompting Lappi to park his vehicle by the fifth special stage and retire from second place.
Hyundai had focused on improving the reliability of their car ahead of the Kenyan round, but the severe conditions once again caused headaches for the team. This was acknowledged by the team’s technical director, Francois-Xavier Demaison.
“We were hopeful that we could resolve the issue, but it appears to be more complicated,” Demaison stated.
“We had a big hope that we could have resolved the issue, but it seems to be more complicated.”
According to Demaison, solving reliability issues isn’t something that can be done instantly.
“Unfortunately, it’s difficult to fix it with the current rules.”
Hyundai also saw Ott Tänak drop out during the afternoon loop. Tänak hit a rock on the driving line, which then sent his car into a bank.
“Ott was really unlucky. But such incidents can happen in this type of rally, where the stone came on the road, brought by another car. Ott had no choice but to go over the stone, which pushed him out,” Demaison recounted.
“This was an unlucky day for us, but we’ll come back stronger tomorrow.”
Of the Hyundai drivers, only the championship leader Thierry Neuville made it through the day unscathed. The Belgian is fourth in the rally, trailing Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans, and Takamoto Katsuta.
“Neuville will fight tomorrow, as he’s not far from second position. Everything is still possible. He had a good run until the puncture, but tomorrow he’ll be stronger,” Demaison assured.
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