Esapekka Lappi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Esapekka Lappi
Esapekka Lappi - Rallye Mexico 2019.jpg
Lappi at the 2019 Rally Mexico
Personal information
NationalityFinland Finnish
Born (1991-01-17) 17 January 1991 (age 31)
Pieksämäki, Finland
World Rally Championship record
Active years2011–2013, 2015–present
Co-driverFinland Janne Ferm
TeamsŠkoda, Toyota, Citroën, M-Sport
Rallies65
Championships0
Rally wins1
Podiums7
Stage wins43
Total points351
First rally2011 Rally Finland
First win2017 Rally Finland
Last win2017 Rally Finland

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)[]

Lappi at 2013 Rally de Portugal.

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 during Rally Finland 2017, his first WRC victory.

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)[]

Lappi at 2020 Rally Sweden.

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 Finland 67th Rally Finland 2017 Finland Janne Ferm Toyota Yaris WRC

Career results[]

WRC results[]

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2011 Printsport Citroën C2 R2 SWE MEX POR JOR ITA ARG GRE FIN
32 		GER AUS FRA ESP GBR NC 0
2012 Printsport Ford Fiesta S2000 MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN
25 		NC 0
Esapekka Lappi Citroën C2 R2 GER
Ret 		GBR FRA ITA ESP
2013 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 MON
Ret 		SWE MEX POR
10 		ARG GRE ITA 30th 1
Esapekka Lappi FIN
31 		GER AUS FRA ESP GBR
2015 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX ARG POR
12 		ITA
17 		POL
12 		FIN
8 		GER
42 		AUS FRA
14 		ESP
Ret 		GBR 20th 4
2016 Esapekka Lappi Škoda Fabia R5 MON
9 		12th 16
Škoda Motorsport SWE
12 		MEX ARG POR ITA
21 		POL
14 		FIN
8 		GER
7 		CHN
C 		FRA ESP GBR
11 		AUS
8
2017 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON SWE MEX FRA ARG POR
10 		ITA
4 		POL
Ret 		FIN
1 		GER
21 		ESP
Ret 		GBR
9 		AUS
6 		11th 62
2018 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON
7 		SWE
4 		MEX
11 		FRA
6 		ARG
8 		POR
5 		ITA
3 		FIN
Ret 		GER
3 		TUR
Ret 		GBR
3 		ESP
7 		AUS
4 		5th 126
2019 Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC MON
Ret 		SWE
2 		MEX
13 		FRA
7 		ARG
Ret 		CHL
6 		POR
Ret 		ITA
7 		FIN
2 		GER
8 		TUR
2 		GBR
27 		ESP
Ret 		AUS
C 		10th 83
2020 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MON
4 		SWE
5 		MEX
Ret 		EST
7 		TUR
6 		ITA
Ret 		MNZ
4 		6th 52
2021 Movisport Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 MON ARC
10 		CRO POR
7 		ITA KEN EST BEL GRE 12th 22
RTE-Motorsport Toyota Yaris WRC FIN
4 		ESP MNZ
2022 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 MON SWE TBA NC* 0*

* Season still in progress.

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
2021 Movisport Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 MON ARC
1 		CRO POR
1 		ITA KEN EST BEL GRE FIN ESP MNZ 7th 59

* Season still in progress.

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
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[]

  1. ^ "The perfect ending". esapekkalappi.fi. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Lappi & Ferm make a winning debut in a ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000". esapekkalappi.fi. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  3. ^ "Lappi claims title with Australia win". WRC. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  4. ^ Evans, David (13 December 2016). "Incoming Toyota launches 2017 Yaris WRC, signs Latvala and Lappi". Autosport.com. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  5. ^ "WRC rookie Esapekka Lappi wins Rally Finland for Toyota". autosport.com. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Esapekka Lappi Joins Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT". media.citroenracing.com. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  7. ^ "Lappi to partner five-time WRC champion Ogier at Citroen in 2019". autosport.com. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  8. ^ "WRC Season 2019". ewrc-results.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  9. ^ "Citroen leaves World Rally Championship and blames Ogier's exit". autosport.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Citroen WRC exile Lappi joins M-Sport alongside Suninen and Greensmith". autosport.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  11. ^ Lappi, Esapekka. "Exclusive Citroen Tour w/ Esapekka Lappi @Neste Rally Finland 2019". YouTube. Red Bull Motorsports. Retrieved 26 August 2019.

External links[]

Sporting positions
Preceded by European Rally Champion
2014 		Succeeded by
Kajetan Kajetanowicz
Preceded by World Rally Championship-2 Champion
2016 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from ""