Lappi holds a commanding lead ahead of Sunday’s three special stages. The Finnish driver leads the competition around Umeå by more than a minute over M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux.
With Hyundai’s leading stars Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak out of the top battle, Lappi has the chance to bring home the most points for his team. Securing the top spot on Saturday evening, Lappi guarantees at least 18 championship points for himself and Hyundai, provided he navigates through Sunday’s special stages successfully.
“I hardly need to instruct him. He knows I didn’t sleep last night. I’m not expecting to sleep this night. He knows that it’s important for all of us, it would be great from a manufacturer perspective. But again, he has to complete the work first,” team principal Abiteboul said.
Among the favourites for Rally Sweden, Kalle Rovanperä and Tänak made mistakes on the opening day of the event. Lappi, on the other hand, has driven a secure race, putting him close to his second World Rally Championship victory.
“He’s been strong when it mattered. He’s been patient when it mattered. I don’t want to overrate his performance because he has to nail it down. But he’s been good,” Abiteboul shared.
Abiteboul had only one criticism of Lappi.
“The only thing is that he’s not smiling enough to my liking. He reminded me that he is a Finnish guy, so it’s normal,” the French boss quipped.
Abiteboul had expected a strong performance from Lappi. But a win from the Finn would exceed the team principal’s expectations.
“We sort of position him as the team’s dark horse. With a starting position more or less similar to Kalle’s, we expected him to put some pressure on Kalle. With Rovanperä’s issue yesterday, he moved into a much better position for the win.”
