Lappi said goodbye to the WRC at the end of the 2024 season. The Finnish star competed in the Finnish Rally Championship last year and had already stated that he was no longer aiming for a place at the very top level of the sport.
However, Lappi’s situation changed when Ott Tänak left Hyundai after the 2025 season. In the end, Hyundai decided to sign Lappi as a part-time driver for its third Rally1 car, alongside Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon.
Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala is pleased that Lappi has been given a new opportunity in the WRC.
“It’s great to see Esapekka and Enni (co-driver Mälkönen) back here again. From a Finnish perspective, it’s good to have more Finns in the top class, even though we already of course have Sami Pajari there,” Latvala told RallyJournal.com.
Lappi has won two WRC rallies during his career. His first victory came immediately in his debut season in the top class in 2017 at Rally Finland. He had to wait until the 2024 season for his second win, which he claimed in Sweden.
Latvala is convinced that Lappi can deliver strong results behind the wheel of Hyundai. Lappi will start his season in February at Rally Sweden, and his programme will almost certainly also include the fast rounds in Estonia and Finland.
“I know that Esapekka is very strong – Sweden and Finland are strong rallies for him. It is absolutely certain that he will challenge us,” Latvala assessed.
“Even though he’s been away from the WRC for a year, he’s been competing in the Finnish championship, and his speed certainly hasn’t disappeared anywhere. He has all the elements needed to do well.”
A tougher challenge for Toyota
Last year, Toyota dominated the World Rally Championship, as Toyota drivers took 12 victories from the season’s 14 rounds. Hyundai managed only two wins – Ott Tänak was victorious in Greece and Thierry Neuville in Saudi Arabia.
Hyundai has introduced updates to its Rally1 car since last year and has tested the car extensively on both sides of the turn of the year. Latvala believes Hyundai will not make things as easy for Toyota this season.
“They have clearly invested in experience within their driver line-up. They could have chosen younger drivers to learn, but instead they are clearly aiming for speed and consistency with experienced drivers,” Latvala considered.
“I believe this will be a more challenging year for us. Hyundai have clearly prepared in a different way. Thierry Neuville won the championship in 2024, and at that point they may have felt that everything was already in good shape and that there was less need for development work. I think that was Hyundai’s problem in the 2025 season. But I know that now there will certainly be real hunger at Hyundai for 2026.”
The WRC season will get under way next week at Rally Monte Carlo. New Zealander Hayden Paddon will compete in the event in Hyundai’s third Rally1 car alongside the team’s full-time drivers Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux.
Toyota will field as many as five drivers at the season opener: Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg, Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari.
