Hyundai Boss Opens Up on Lappi Situation as One Factor Complicates Call

Esapekka Lappi returned to the WRC this season to drive Hyundai's third Rally1 car in selected events. But his future in the world rally championship remains uncertain.

The Finn competed in Sweden, Kenya, Estonia and Finland. His biggest disappointment came at his home event, where he crashed out on Friday morning's opening loop and was forced to retire.

According to Hyundai Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley, Lappi took the retirement particularly hard. "He was really disappointed. Extremely disappointed. Part of the reason was that, after Estonia, he couldn't really understand why his pace wasn't immediately at the same level as Thierry's (Neuville) and Adrien's (Fourmaux)," Wheatley told Rallyjournal.com.

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Hyundai believes it took Lappi almost the entire Rally Estonia weekend to find his rhythm. "We expected him to be at the same level as Thierry and Adrien right from the start, but it took two and a half days. It wasn't until the Power Stage that we started to see the pace we had expected."

According to Wheatley, the situation in Finland was completely different. "Here, he was exactly where he needed to be from the very first run of the shakedown." However, Lappi was caught out by one of the new stages. "He was caught out slightly by one of the new sections of road. His pace notes weren't at the same level there as they were elsewhere, and that cost him dearly."

Despite the retirement, Wheatley sees plenty of positives in Lappi's attitude. "He was very disappointed, but also highly motivated because he knows he is capable of driving quickly. He saw that himself. Across the three shakedown runs and the first three special stages, his pace was already very close to what we wanted to see."

That, according to Wheatley, is exactly what makes Hyundai's decision over its driver line-up so difficult. "He's motivated, and that's precisely why the decision is so difficult. We'll see what happens." Hyundai confirmed immediately after Rally Finland that Paddon will drive the team's third car at the next round in Rally Paraguay. The team will announce at a later date which of the three drivers will be behind the wheel for Rally Chile in mid-September.