Esapekka Lappi aims to end his season as high he can and wants to finish at the podium place on his first participation at Rally Japan in World Rally Championship.
Lappi's future at Hyundai remains unknown as the team has already confirmed Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville for 2024, but Cyril Abiteboul wants EP to remain at the squad. The Finn impressed with his results on the first half of the season as he finished at the podium positions in three rallies in a row while he started the second half of 2023 in a positive way as he managed to complete the top three in Estonia. However, his next appearances with the i20N were not so compromising as he had three DNFs in five rallies which put him in an unfavorable place for extending his full-time programme with the Koreans for next season. As Rally Japan is about to start in less than a week, EP has a disadvantage for the final WRC round as he has never competed there which means that he and Janne Ferm have to study the videos very well with the view of creating their pacenotes for this event, but the most important is that the Finn driver lacks of experience and does not know what to expect on these tarmac roads.
"It’s my first time in Japan, so my goal is to finish well", Lappi said.
"I want to end the season as high as we can, and I want to be on the podium again.
"There are many things we must do to achieve that result, but tyre choice will be crucial.
"An early exit last time out on the European tarmac means that we have everything to prove here as it’s both the second consecutive tarmac event and the last rally of the season.
"I have heard that the atmosphere is great and there are some very passionate Japanese rally fans, so I am excited to put on a good show for them to close the season".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
Post a Comment