Esapekka Lappi
![]() Lappi at the 2019 Rally Mexico | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | ![]() |
Born | Pieksämäki, Finland | 17 January 1991
World Rally Championship record | |
Active years | 2011–2013, 2015–2020 |
Co-driver | ![]() |
Teams | Škoda, Toyota, Citroën, M-Sport |
Rallies | 62 |
Championships | 0 |
Rally wins | 1 |
Podiums | 7 |
Stage wins | 43 |
Total points | 344 |
First rally | 2011 Rally Finland |
First win | 2017 Rally Finland |
Last win | 2017 Rally Finland |
Last rally | 2020 Rally Monza |
Esapekka Lappi (born 17 January 1991) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2012 Finnish Rally Champion, 2014 European Rally Champion and the 2016 WRC-2 Champion.
Career
2012
Lappi won the 2012 Finnish Rally Championship with Ford Fiesta S2000 winning all the 7 rounds of the championship with his co-driver Janne Ferm.[1]
In October, Lappi was signed by Škoda Motorsport. Lappi won his first rally with the team in 2012 Rally Poland which was part of European Rally Championship, driving a Škoda Fabia S2000.[2]
Škoda Motorsport (2013–2016)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Lappi_2013_Portugal.jpg/250px-Lappi_2013_Portugal.jpg)
In 2013, Lappi competed full season in Asia-Pacific Rally Championship with Team MRF's Škoda Fabia S2000, and selected events in both WRC-2 and ERC with Škoda Motorsport. In APRC, Lappi won three out of six events and finished the season runner-up to his team-mate Gaurav Gill.
In ERC, Lappi competed in three tarmac rallies, winning the last of them Rallye International du Valais in Switzerland. He finished the season fifth in the final standings.
In WRC-2, he also raced in three rallies, winning Rally de Portugal where he also scored his maiden WRC-point finishing 10th overall.
Lappi won the 2014 European Rally Championship title with victories in Latvia, Northern Ireland and Switzerland.
Lappi continued competing with Škoda Motorsport driving their new challenger Fabia R5 in WRC-2 championship. He scored two wins in Poland and Finland on his way to finish the season in third place behind Nasser Al-Attiyah and Yuriy Protasov. Lappi also scored his career-best WRC result finishing eighth in Rally Finland.
He won the 2016 World Rally Championship-2 with the Škoda Fabia R5 after winning in Finland, Germany, Wales and Australia.[3]
Toyota (2017–2018)
Lappi was signed by Toyota Gazoo Racing to drive a Toyota Yaris WRC in the 2017 World Rally Championship.[4] On his second event with the team, the 2017 Rally d'Italia, he won his first ever stage in the WRC, along with five more stage wins. He eventually finished fourth. In just his fourth World Rally Car start, at his home event of Rally Finland, Lappi took his first WRC victory.[5] In October 2018, Toyota announced that Lappi would leave the team at the end of the 2018 championship.[6]
Citroën (2019)
He joined Citroën for the 2019 season, partnering with multiple champion Sébastien Ogier.[7] With the Citroën C3 WRC, Lappi finished the season in tenth place after a difficult year with many retirements. He scored three podiums for the French team, by finishing second in Sweden, Finland and Turkey.[8] After the season, Citroën announced they would depart from the World Rally Championship in 2020 after Ogier moved to Lappi's old team, Toyota, leaving Lappi to find a seat elsewhere.[9]
M-Sport (2020)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/LappiRallySweden2020%282%29.jpg/250px-LappiRallySweden2020%282%29.jpg)
After Citroën's exit in 2019, Lappi signed for M-Sport to drive the whole season in a Ford Fiesta WRC alongside his compatriot Teemu Suninen.[10]
WRC victories
# | Event | Season | Co-driver | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
2017 | ![]() |
Toyota Yaris WRC |
Career results
WRC results
SWRC results
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos. | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | Printsport | Ford Fiesta S2000 | MON | SWE | POR | NZL | FIN 5 |
GBR | FRA | ESP | 12th | 10 |
WRC-2 results
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pos. | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Škoda Motorsport | Škoda Fabia S2000 | MON Ret |
SWE | MEX | POR 1 |
ARG | GRE | ITA | 16th | 25 | |||||||
Esapekka Lappi | FIN 11 |
GER | AUS | FRA | ESP | GBR | ||||||||||||
2015 | Škoda Motorsport | Škoda Fabia R5 | MON | SWE | MEX | ARG | POR 2 |
ITA 9 |
POL 1 |
FIN 1 |
GER 13 |
AUS | FRA 2 |
ESP Ret |
GBR | 3rd | 88 | |
2016 | Škoda Motorsport | Škoda Fabia R5 | MON | SWE 3 |
MEX | ARG | POR | ITA 9 |
POL 3 |
FIN 1 |
GER 1 |
CHN C |
FRA | ESP | GBR 1 |
AUS 1 |
1st | 130 |
ERC results
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | Škoda Motorsport | Škoda Fabia S2000 | AUT | ITA | CRO | BUL | BEL | TUR | POR | CZE | ESP | POL 1 |
SUI | — | 39 | |
2013 | Škoda Motorsport | Škoda Fabia S2000 | JÄN | LIE | CAN | AZO | COR | YPR | ROM | ZLÍ Ret |
POL | CRO | SAN 2 |
VAL 1 |
5th | 64 |
2014 | Škoda Motorsport | Škoda Fabia S2000 | JÄN | LIE 1 |
ACR 4 |
IRE 1 |
AZO | YPR Ret |
EST 5 |
CZE Ret |
CYP | VAL 1 |
COR Ret |
1st | 162 |
APRC results
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pos. | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Team MRF | Škoda Fabia S2000 | NZL 1 |
NCL Ret |
AUS 1 |
MYS Ret |
JPN Ret |
CHN 1 |
2nd | 117 |
Personal life
Lappi is gluten intolerant. The Citroën service park chef prepares gluten-free dishes for him.[11] One of his sponsors is Moilas, a Finnish producer of gluten-free foods.
References
- ^ "The perfect ending". esapekkalappi.fi. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
- ^ "Lappi & Ferm make a winning debut in a ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000". esapekkalappi.fi. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
- ^ "Lappi claims title with Australia win". WRC. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ Evans, David (13 December 2016). "Incoming Toyota launches 2017 Yaris WRC, signs Latvala and Lappi". Autosport.com. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ "WRC rookie Esapekka Lappi wins Rally Finland for Toyota". autosport.com. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
- ^ "Esapekka Lappi Joins Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT". media.citroenracing.com. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
- ^ "Lappi to partner five-time WRC champion Ogier at Citroen in 2019". autosport.com. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
- ^ "WRC Season 2019". ewrc-results.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ "Citroen leaves World Rally Championship and blames Ogier's exit". autosport.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ "Citroen WRC exile Lappi joins M-Sport alongside Suninen and Greensmith". autosport.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ Lappi, Esapekka. "Exclusive Citroen Tour w/ Esapekka Lappi @Neste Rally Finland 2019". YouTube. Red Bull Motorsports. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)