Part-time pairing Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferm successfully navigated through 18 challenging snow stages to score a second career win with a 29.6-second margin over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
Lappi’s triumph ended a six and a half-year victory drought, arriving on the first start of his 2024 part-time programme.
M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux claimed a milestone maiden WRC podium, finishing 47.9s behind Lappi.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville finished fourth (+1m46.3s), while Oliver Solberg finished an impressive fifth overall (+5m04.2s) to secure the WRC2 class win on home soil.
Changeable weather conditions added to the challenge for crews as heavy snow showers helped turn the leaderboard on its head on Friday.
Retuning reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera, making the first start of his part-time programme with Toyota, started the event in ominous form, winning the opening two tests.
But his victory bid came to a halt when he lost control of his GR Yaris and crashed heavily into a snowbank on Friday’s stage four.
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak suffered a similar fate on the same stage, as the 2019 world champion exited Friday’s action from third, following a similar incident that damaged his i20 N’s radiator.
M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster also lost four minutes on the stage due to a puncture.
The demise of Rovanpera and Tanak handed Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta an 11.4s lead over Lappi. Katsuta and Lappi then became locked in a head-to-head battle for the lead as heavy snow showers hampered those at the top of the road order.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Lappi managed to overhaul Katsuta for the rally lead on stage seven before ending Friday with a 3.2s advantage over the Japanese driver. Such were the effects of the heavy snow, WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg made history by ending the day sitting third overall.
Katsuta fought back in better conditions on Saturday morning, closing to within 0.9s of the Finn before his bid for a maiden win came to a dramatic end on stage 10.
Katsuta clipped a snowbank with the rear of his GR Yaris, which resulted in his car being fired deep into the snow and out of contention.
This handed Lappi a 1m31.6s lead over Fourmaux to protect across the final eight stages. Lappi also provisionally scored 18 points under the new points system for ending Saturday on top of the leaderboard. Fourmaux pocketed 15 points, Evans 13 and Neuville 10…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – RALLY – Stories…