Citroen’s Esapekka Lappi says that next weekend’s Wales Rally GB is an “iconic test”.
Lappi heads to Wales on the back of a fine second place finish on Rally Turkey where he finished behind his teammate Sebastien Ogier and the Finn wants to build on a positive pre-event test between the two rounds to help produce another strong result.
He said ahead of next week’s twelfth round of the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship: “This rally is an iconic test. You’ve got it all, stages in the dark, fog, rain and wind – it’s always a serious challenge. You need to have guts too, because the stages are pretty fast and flowing. One of the key things will undoubtedly be having a car that isn’t too sensitive to the changes in grip, because they are non-stop”.
“We worked well in testing, even though the roads were dry. Given our position in the running order, rain would clearly be something of a disadvantage. Having said that, in Turkey I had a good feeling with my C3 WRC when it started raining on Friday’s long stage”.
After a tough opening half of the season, Lappi has somewhat regained his confidence and form in recent events – he also took the runners up spot on his home event in Finland at the beginning of August.
Next week’s Wales Rally GB begins in Liverpool and sees an opening stage based at Oulton Park on Thursday evening.