EK9 Senseless confusion in the World Rally: A life-threatening farce

Esapekka Lappi fell victim to the Japanese rally farce. He got a calculated time from EK9. PDO

EK9

It is really difficult to understand what exactly was regulated in the Nukata forest. The ninth special stage of the World Rally Championship in Japan was supposed to be held there, but in the end only an incomprehensible farce was achieved.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was allowed to go, even though the zero car had not yet reached the finish line to confirm the route as safe. The Belgian caught up with the zero car that had stopped at the edge of the stop and took off the pace in a completely orthodox way.

Of course, the organizers should never have even started the special test, but it was not easy to cancel it either.

The special stage was stopped with a red flag, but the information should have been passed on to the starting point as well, from where the drivers were still allowed to go.

Driving his home race with great motivation Takamoto Katsuta didn’t care much about the scratch car and the red flags. The Japanese drove at full speed, even though according to the rules he should have immediately cut off the speed.

Even crazier was that Esapekka Lappi was allowed to go on a special trial, even though the jury had stopped it.

However, after a break of about a quarter of an inch, it was decided to organize a special test for the rest of the drivers. Neuville, Katsuta, Ott Tänak and Lapland get a calculated time from the clip.

Kalle Rovanperä was the first to drive the special test at rally pace.

– There was a long wait, because the clip was cut for a while. I had a wet and damp start with cold tires. It was quite a careful ride, no extra program came on.

In the end, Rovanperä was 14.4 seconds behind the fastest time For Sébastien Ogier.