Rally reporter Colin Clark was startled by Esapekka Lapi’s wrecked car.
Esapekka Lappi was at a good pace before his suspension. PDO
Esapekka Lapin the rally in Mexico ended with a dangerous crash on Saturday.
The Finn rammed his Hyundai rear-first into a utility pole right on Saturday’s opening stretch. He was leading the race when he stopped.
The crash itself didn’t cause the greatest danger yet, but in the situation that followed, Lappi had to be really careful. The engine compartment of the car caught fire, and the electrical wires next to the head sparkled.
– There was 30,000 volts of electricity hanging next to it, Lappi told Iltalehte earlier.
Editor of rally site Dirtfish Colin Clark was among the first to go looking for Finnish drivers on the gravel roads of Mexico.
He tells in his articlehow he followed Lapi for a long distance on foot, until he jumped on the platform of a local police car and continued the journey in it.
When he got there, Clark was startled by what he saw.
– I was standing on the platform of the car, and Lapin and (map reader) Janne Fermin the crushed car was about 50 meters away. “Honestly, my heart stopped when I saw that power pole on top of the car,” Clark writes.
– The police said that “no, no, it’s not a telephone pole, but an electric pole”. They isolated the area from other people, and at that point the situation was blinding.
Soon, however, Clark made a reassuring observation.
– Fortunately, I noticed them sitting under a tree, and I shouted to them if they were okay.