Copyright © 2022 DirtFish, LLC. All rights reserved.
Esapekka Lappi is content to continue seat-sharing at Toyota with Sébastien Ogier into 2023
Words by Luke Barry & Colin Clark
Esapekka Lappi would happily accept another part-time World Rally Championship season in 2023, feeling he’s not at the level to challenge Kalle Rovanperä for the title.
Lappi made his top-class WRC debut with Toyota back in 2017, winning Rally Finland on just his fourth ever start – a result that still stands as his only WRC victory to date.
But Lappi’s career lost momentum over the succeeding years. An ill-fated move to Citroën in 2019 was followed by a shift to M-Sport Ford for 2020 when Citroën pulled out of the championship; both moves failed to deliver any headline results.
Lappi took a step back in 2021, entering just three rounds of the WRC but winning two of them (Arctic Rally Finland and Rally Portugal) in WRC2 and then finishing a strong fourth overall on Rally Finland in a hired Toyota Yaris WRC.
That performance was enough to earn him a return to the Toyota factory team in 2022, albeit as a part-time driver to fill in for Sébastien Ogier on the events he wouldn’t be contesting.
Next week’s Acropolis Rally Greece will be Lappi’s seventh start from a possible 10 this season, and he has already bagged podiums in Sweden, Finland and Belgium and led in Italy.
Lappi doesn’t currently have a deal in place for 2023 but Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala has however told DirtFish that he would like to retain the exact same lineup of drivers next season.
That would safeguard Lappi’s position in the team, although potentially consign him to another year of sharing driving duties with Ogier.
But that’s a prospect that doesn’t worry Lappi, whose quiet year in 2021 has given him a fresh and renewed perspective on rallying.
“Well there are two sides,” Lappi said when asked if he’d rather a full-time or a part-time season.
“For sure as a driver, you would like to get a chance to fight for the big prize. Then on the other hand, the most important thing of your life is your family and then the partial season is a very good balance – with professional life in rallying and then family life.
“I am ready for both to be fair. I acknowledge that I have no chance to beat Kalle at the moment or anything like this but to keep that in mind, this partial program is actually pretty good.”
Most drivers prefer a full campaign, but there have been several over recent years that have flourished with partial seasons.
Sébastien Loeb is a clear example, winning this year’s Monte Carlo Rally in one of a planned four appearances for M-Sport Ford, as is Hyundai’s Dani Sordo who has won Rally Italy twice since stepping back from being a full-time WRC driver.
Words: Luke Barry, Colin Clark
Tags: Esapekka Lappi, Jari-Matti Latvala, Toyota, WRC 2022, WRC 2023
Publish Date August 29, 2022 DirtFish https://www-dirtfish.imgix.net/2022/08/WRC_2022_Rd.9_362-1.jpg?fit=scale&fm=pjpg&h=520&ixlib=php-1.2.1&q=70&w=780&wpsize=entry-main August 29, 2022
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Copyright © 2022 DirtFish, LLC. All rights reserved.
Subaru Impreza STI Sedan & Hatchback Features
Roll Cage: Every rally car requires a welded-in safety cage. The roll cages in our cars are built in-house from scratch.
Racing Seats: Driver and co-driver need to be firmly mounted to the structure of the vehicle. The use of hinged-back seats in rally vehicles is prohibited in rally and most forms of racing.
Racing Harnesses: Safety first. A minimum of a 5-point harness is required by all American rally sanctioning bodies. The 5 points consist of 2 shoulder harness, 2 lap belts and a single anti-submarine belt (not shown).
Handbrake: Most rally cars use a hydraulic handbrake. The purpose of the handbrake maneuver is to turn a car around a very tight corner by locking up the rear wheels aiding in the rotation of the car around the corner.
Engine: Our Subaru STi’s use a 2.5 liter 4-cylinder Turbo-charged Boxer engine.
Drive train: The Subaru STi is equipped with an advanced all-wheel-drive system with an active center differential.
Gravel Rally Tires: Being a rally school, we spend most of our time on gravel roads. To maximize the learning experience, we outfit all of our cars with the latest gravel rally tires for maximum traction.
Method Rally Wheels: It is very important to have a durably strong, yet lightweight rally wheel that can hold up to constant abuse, rocks, rough roads and punctures. At DirtFish, we use and trust Method Race Wheels.
Suspension: Rally is rarely on a perfectly smooth roads, because of that rally cars require suspension that can take the abuse. We choose to use Reiger rally suspension on our cars.
Brakes: Rally cars commonly use a 15″ rally wheel. In order for the wheels to fit on our Subaru STi’s, we had to convert them to a Group N brake setup.
Underbody Protection: Driving at high speeds over variable surfaces can easily damage parts. With the constant spray of gravel that gets thrown at them, skid plates and urethane underbody protection help with the longevity of the underbody of the cars.
Roll Cage: Every rally car requires a welded-in safety cage. The roll cages in our cars are built in-house from scratch.
Racing Seats: Driver and co-driver need to be firmly mounted to the structure of the vehicle. The use of hinged-back seats in rally vehicles is prohibited in rally and most forms of racing.
Racing Harnesses: Safety first. A minimum of a 5-point harness is required by all American rally sanctioning bodies. The 5 points consist of 2 shoulder harness, 2 lap belts and a single anti-submarine belt (not shown).
Handbrake: Most rally cars use a hydraulic handbrake. The purpose of the handbrake maneuver is to turn a car around a very tight corner by locking up the rear wheels to aid the rotation of the car around the corner.
Engine: The Subary BRZ is powered by a 2.0 liter naturally aspirated Boxer engine.
Drive train: The Subaru BRZ is rear-wheel-drive and equipped with a limited slip differential.
Gravel Rally Tires: Being a rally school, we spend most of our time on gravel roads. To maximize the learning experience, we outfit all of our cars with the latest gravel rally tires for maximum traction.
Method Rally Wheels: It is very important to have a durably strong, yet lightweight rally wheel that can hold up to constant abuse, rocks, rough roads and punctures. At DirtFish, we use and trust Method Race Wheels.
Suspension: Rally is rarely on a perfectly smooth roads, because of that rally cars require suspension that can take the abuse. We choose to use Reiger rally suspension on our cars.
Brakes: Rally cars commonly use a 15″ rally wheel. Luckily with the Subaru BRZ’s, the stock brake system is more than adequate for our programs.
Underbody Protection: Driving at high speeds over variable surfaces can easily damage parts. With the constant spray of gravel that gets thrown at them, skid plates and urethane underbody protection help with the longevity of the underbody of the cars.
Below you will find an aerial view of the DirtFish property. Go through and check out the courses you’ll be driving on during your driving program! View everything from The Slalom all the way up to our longest course, the Advanced Mill Run!