Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi experienced unimaginably bad luck in the Finland World Cup Rally on Saturday evening.
20220804, Jyväskylä, Secto Rally Finland, SS1-Harju. Esapekka Lappi is pictured. Vesa Pöppönen / All Over Press Vesa Pöppönen / All Over Press
Esapekka Lapin when braking, the car set off a large loose stone, which then continued its journey at high speed on the side of the road and bounced off a tree. From that, the stone bounced directly onto the Lapland side of the car’s windshield. After that visibility was non-existent as the windshield was cracked.
– Just normal braking at the intersection, and there was a bit of a groove. The bow goes really low when braking, which is quite normal. There was apparently a loose stone in it, which then shot forward. I don’t know if it hit a tree or what when it came back. Nothing to do but draw the lottery. The friend sent a message that you should try the lottery, Lappi sighed at the situation.
– And why did it hit me? If a little had hit the other side, it wouldn’t have bothered much.
In the last two special tests of the evening, Lapland had to struggle with poor visibility. When the speed is close to 200 kilometers per hour at best in narrow gravel ruts, the situation was not very pleasant.
– It’s going to be a pretty rough ride there, though. It would be nice to see where we go. There’s a little panic when you realize that I can’t see anything, Lappi summed up.
– The evening sun was the worst, when there were a lot of cracks in the glass and it reflected so badly. That’s why the time was miserable in the last clip.
One option would have been to remove the windshield completely, but Lappi didn’t even consider doing that.
– I was thinking that we don’t have any glasses, and on the other hand, if a stone had hit us in the face, I wouldn’t be here telling any stories. It would have died if the same thing had happened again.
– Although it is unlikely, how do you ever know. Think now, if the devil it had come to the larv, then the spirit away.
On the final day, Lapland starts the competition in third place. Break up with the other teammate Kalle Rovaperää is about half a minute and to the one behind to Elfyn Evans more than 40 seconds.
– Now I am not saying that the victory was taken away, but now there is at least not even a small chance to fight for it. I could have stayed on the skin without any problems, and if there had been a mistake, I would have been breathing down my neck right away, Lappi lamented.
– Yes, it feels bad that that opportunity was taken away. On the other hand, a podium finish is also a good result. Let’s try to focus on tomorrow as usual.