Esapekka Lappi has had a mixed start to the season. As a complementary driver to Sébastien Ogier, the Finn did not compete in the ‘Monte’, an event in which the eight-time WRC champion managed to finish second. With everything, Lappi gave the best possible relief to the Frenchman at Rally Sweden, also climbing to the podium with a valuable third place. Things didn’t go so well for Esapekka in Croatia on tarmac, but Lappi already has a date to remove this bad taste from his mouth and get back behind the wheel of the third Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
With the presence of Sébastien Ogier in Portugal, the next rally for Esapekka Lappi will be Italy-Sardinia. Toyota Gazoo Racing has confirmed that Lappi will complete the brand’s official team line-up and will compete at the Italian event alongside Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans. It will be the third event in Lappi’s partial program after passing through Sweden and Croatia. Two antagonistic rallies with opposite results for Lappi, as he was third in Sweden and was far from the front in Croatia after hitting a stone.
Toyota Gazoo Racing maintains its dynamic of confirming the schedule of its drivers for the team’s third ‘Rally1’ event by event, so there is still no more information about the distribution of evidence that will be from Sardinia. In fact, Lappi’s presence at the Italian event is marked by the commitments of Sébastien Ogier in endurance, since the date of the Rally of Italy-Sardinia coincides with the celebration of the official test of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the La Sarthe circuit.
Regarding your program, sebastien ogier He pointed out: «The only thing I can confirm is that I will be in Portugal, but not in Sardinia because it collides with the Le Mans test. On Sardinia Sunday I will be at Le Mans for the official test day of the 24 hour race. It couldn’t be fitted, but then there will be some discussions with Toyota afterwards. The plan is to do about five rallies for me this year and I think everything is in line to continue like this.. However, the idea is to leave it a little open.
Although it is true that Toyota Gazoo Racing has been combining the Ogier and Lappi programs to date with the same car, If the brand gives the go-ahead from Japan, the team is ready to have a fifth Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 in the second half of the season. If this fifth car is put into the running, there is the possibility of having Sébastien Ogier and Esapekka Lappi at the same time in some events and thus granting more tests to the Finnish driver.
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