How a Toyota lifeline reignited Lappi's WRC career

By his own admission, Esapekka Lappi thought that perhaps his World Rally Championship career was over after losing his drive at the end of 2020. But fast forward to 2022, and a lifeline thrown by Toyota has left the Finn hailing the “best and strongest season of my career.”

Lappi is proof that a sabbatical or a backward step can re-ignite a career that appeared to be spiralling downward. Challenging for victories and three podium finishes from seven WRC events this season has put the 31-year-old firmly back in the WRC mix and he is now likely to continue this triumphant return into 2023.

It is fair to say the likeable Finn has experienced his share of highs and lows in WRC. A precocious young talent, he seemed set to light up the world of rallying after winning the European Rally Championship in 2014. This was swiftly followed up by a dominant run to the 2016 WRC2 crown.

The impressive junior career secured him a factory drive with Toyota as the Japanese marque returned to the WRC in 2017. It didn’t take long for Lappi to rock the WRC establishment by winning in only his fourth outing, with victory on home soil at Rally Finland. But this remains his only victory and his greatest achievement to date.

The fact that Lappi hails a seven-rally, part-time season with Toyota, which has now come to an end following the Acropolis Rally, as his best yet is an indication as to how his career unfolded since that solitary win.

A second promising campaign at Toyota followed in 2018, when he finished fifth in the championship. But from there his career began to dip after switching to the factory Citroen squad in 2019. Unbeknownst to him, this would be the famous marque’s last season in WRC as Lappi and then six-time world champion Sebastien Ogier struggled to tame a difficult C3 WRC.

Then came a COVID-affected campaign with M-Sport in a Fiesta. In a car undeveloped compared to its more affluent factory rivals from Toyota and Hyundai, there were few opportunities. Fourth place in the season-ending Rally Monza felt at the time like his last WRC event. Indeed, Lappi was left on the sidelines in 2021...barring a couple of WRC2 outings that yielded victories, providing a glimmer of hope.

Lappi's promising WRC career appeared to hit the skids after a tough 2020 with M-Sport

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

He'd done enough to catch the attention of Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala, who was in the market for a driver, knowing Ogier would be only contesting a partial season in 2022, as the Frenchman wished to scale back his rally commitments and explore opportunities in the World Endurance Championship.

It could be seen as a gamble by Toyota to re-sign Lappi to share its third entry with Ogier, but a fourth place finish in a 2022 drive audition in a rented Yaris at Rally Finland last year was enough to offer the driver a second chance. It’s fair to say it’s proven a shrewd move, one that has yielded a healthy haul of manufacturers’ title points as Toyota seeks to claim back-to-back crowns after its 2021 triumph.

Lappi’s first event back in the big time was a major moment for the Finn. Third on the snow of Rally Sweden jumps out as the 31-year-old’s highlight of the season, as it convinced himself and co-driver Janne Ferm they still belonged in rallying’s top tier.

There can be no denying that Lappi has found himself in a much better headspace compared to recent seasons. It’s no coincidence that a rejuvenated Lappi owes some of his resurgence to assessing his own mental game and employing a mind coach

“I still feel that actually the podium in Sweden was sort of the most important personally,” he says. “It’s just I’m sure I had the best feeling there. I felt so proud of myself, but also because of Janne, what we managed to do after a long break. And thinking about Monza 2020, I really thought that maybe my career was over, but stepping on the podium again after these kind of thoughts, that felt pretty great.

“I think it’s definitely the strongest performance from our side, that’s 100% sure,” he adds when asked if it was also his strongest performance of the year. “Probably also that’s why the Sweden result felt so good as well, but anyway I was really surprised that we could actually be on the pace in every race.

“This felt really good, and for sure our performance was really consistent throughout the season, so yeah I fully agree, it was the best and strongest season of my career.”

It is a strong statement, but an analysis of his campaign backs up his claim. Lappi produced pace to fight for the lead and delivered podiums on a regular basis, with third place finishes in Sweden, Finland and Belgium. Had his Yaris not suffered a fuel pressure issue in Greece, a fourth podium would have likely emerged, in what he knew at the time would be his last WRC event of the season, before handing the third car back to Ogier for the final three events.

Lappi has picked up three podiums in his partial 2022 campaign, cementing his status at Toyota

Photo by: Toyota Racing

It is pertinent to note that there were a couple of mistakes, but the WRC has shown time and time again that it is nearly impossible to go through a campaign without an error. Even the best of the 2022 crop, Kalle Rovanpera, has made two costly errors this year. So has nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb in his limited outings for M-Sport Ford. Lappi confessed to a “stupid mistake” that resulted in clouting a rock, spelling retirement on the opening stage of Rally Croatia, while a crash in Sardinia put him out of the lead.

“In the end I got a positive taste for this season and I think I got better and better towards the end,” he says. “The start of the season in Sweden was really good. On the next event in Croatia there was this stupid mistake where I hit a rock. This was part of missing the tarmac routine, as it was one and a half years since I was last on tarmac. It was just stupid. The speed has been good in every race, to be honest, and I’m very pleased.

“In Sardinia, I was actually surprised that we were fighting for the win. But then we retired on the Saturday morning. But since then, I think we have done exactly what the team wanted to do.

“We took it a bit steady in Estonia and we were fighting for third position until the puncture. Finland and Belgium were really good as well, there was a little bit of a different strategy between them, but in Belgium it paid off. And then again in Greece we had good speed and everyone knows we retired over there.”

However, there can be no denying that Lappi has found himself in a much better headspace compared to recent seasons. It’s no coincidence that a rejuvenated Lappi owes some of his resurgence to assessing his own mental game and employing a mind coach.

“I did some work with my head, let’s say it like this. I used a mental coach as well and then maybe also the age [31] is helping, and the family, to understand what is important in this life,” he adds. “Why did I take it so seriously sometimes? If you don’t win a stage you don’t win a stage, it’s not the end of your life. So maybe I managed to balance all the things inside my head better than ever before during these last two years and that’s why I’m stronger than ever at the moment.”

PLUS: The mentality shift key to Lappi’s shot at WRC redemption

Lappi puts his progress down to work with a mind coach after his previous struggles

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

This change of mental approach, coupled with spending more time with his family, has clearly worked. And it could have helped him secure a new deal with Toyota for 2023. The marque has been impressed with the signing of Lappi 2.0, with team principal Latvala already going on the record to state he would like to retain his services. Negotiations for a deal next year have already begun and it appears likely that Lappi will extend his second chance in the WRC.

“I’m pretty confident we can stay for next year, but that is just a guess at the moment,” he says. “There is nothing confirmed but we are negotiating. At least that is a good step to be negotiating. I’m feeling good about it.”

"I felt that when I had back-to-back races or the last four in a row, it influenced me that I can be a bit better and sharper. In terms of that, it would be nice to have more events" Esapekka Lappi

There is a strong argument that Lappi deserves a full-time seat, but with Ogier signalling he wishes to continue his scaled-back WRC programme in 2023, it appears Toyota has stumbled on a very lucrative marriage of convenience. Lappi himself can see both sides of the story and admits another partial campaign could perhaps be just the tonic.

“There are two sides. The other side is the family that definitely likes it this way. And I like it as well. It's a good balance between family and professional life,” he says. “On the other hand, I could see and feel that when I had back-to-back races or the last four in a row, it influenced me that I can be a bit better and sharper. In terms of that, it would be nice to have more events. Now it is going to be a long break if I can continue next year. That is not good, but like I said there are two sides.”

While Lappi is content with another partial campaign for 2023, he's eager to get back into competition as soon as possible

Photo by: Toyota Racing