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

Rewind to July 2017 and the World Rally Championship seemingly had crowned a new young star in Esapekka Lappi. The Finn had claimed a record-breaking victory at Rally Finland, in only his fourth career start.

Then the reigning WRC2 champion, Lappi had set tongues wagging by claiming his first stage wins on only his second event of a partial campaign for Toyota in Italy. Then, following a retirement in Poland, he sensationally swept to victory in Finland - winning nine stages along the way. In doing so, he set a record that remains intact today for the fewest WRC starts prior to a maiden win.

Fast forward to the present day and a now 31-year-old Lappi heads to this weekend's Rally Sweden eager to seize a rare second chance in the WRC, having fallen out of rallying’s top tier and been forced into rebuilding his career.

Sport often has a wonderful way of delivering fairytale stories and Lappi's return has the potential to be a poignant tale of redemption, courtesy of a lifeline from Toyota, the very marque that enabled him to shine so brightly five years ago. Drafted back into the fold to share the manufacturer’s third hybrid GR Yaris entry with semi-retired eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier, its a vital opportunity for Lappi to get his career back on track - and is one he must capitalise upon.

“I’m quite ready for it, but I think I will not stress about it,” he tells Autosport. “I think my mindset is pretty good. I’m excited but also thankful already - and I haven’t even started yet! It was a quite strange moment when I got the confirmation to get this seat. I’m feeling very excited and full of motivation.

“Definitely that memory [of winning in Finland] motivates me because the feeling was so good. I have mentally grown a bit since that moment and I have gained a lot of experience, so we are more than ready to do the things again. The approach is very different mentally.

“I think I am better in my head now, I try to be more mature. I should have understood it before, but I was not clever enough to understand it. But that is how it goes sometimes.”

Lappi says he's going into his 2022 comeback season with Toyota refreshed and benefitting from a new mindset

Photo by: Jaanus Ree - Red Bull Content Pool

Those words are telling of Lappi 2.0’s rejuvenation. He clearly has a hunger to replicate that winning feeling, and that prospect is boosted by being a wiser and more mature rally driver, fully aware of the pitfalls that can quickly turn into a downward spiral.

Lappi's journey to this point is an interesting and cautionary tale. His talent was there for all to see, as he burst onto the scene with Skoda Motorsport and won the European Rally Championship in 2014. Then, in 2016, he beat current Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans and countryman Teemu Suninen to win the WRC2 crown at his second attempt.

It was a rapid rise up the ranks that prompted an offer to join the big time with Toyota in 2017. The victory in Finland was the standout result of his eight-round campaign, as Lappi displayed clear potential but results proved inconsistent. It's a familiar path well trodden by rallying’s greats - take Colin McRae, who initially lacked the consistency to match his blistering pace, but in 1995 became the youngest-ever world champion, aged 27.

"I started to feel that, 'No matter what I do, it is not enough', and it took away the motivation, so it was stressful time as well" Esapekka Lappi

A full season at Toyota followed for Lappi in 2018, and while he couldn't repeat his visit to the top step of the podium, there were three podium finishes in Italy, Germany and Great Britain. He was a valuable cog in Toyota’s surge to the manufacturers’ title and produced a much more consistent campaign that ultimately left him fifth overall, only two points shy of his more experienced team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala (his saviour and now boss at Toyota).

The performances caught the eye of then-Citroen boss Pierre Budar. But unbeknown to him at the time, this was the start of Lappi’s slide onto the WRC sidelines. Having struggled to match its Toyota, Hyundai and Ford rivals following the launch of the 2017 cars, Citroen went all out in its bid to sign top-level drivers for 2019 and turn around its fortunes with the troublesome new C3 WRC. The French brand landed six-time champion Ogier, who left M-Sport as two-time reigning champion, with Lappi following in tow.

Ultimately it proved too tall an order for even Ogier to arrest the team’s fortunes. With his streak of titles dating back to 2013 abruptly ended by Toyota's lead driver Ott Tanak, Ogier left the team - which triggered Citroen to pull out of the WRC entirely, citing "the absence of a first-class driver available for 2020 season". It was a huge blow to Lappi, who ended the year a lowly 10th and without a drive - three second places finishes the only highlight of a year plagued by inconsistency and a string of retirements.

With limited options on the table to continue in the WRC, Lappi joined M-Sport in 2020’s COVID-19 shortened campaign. But the Fiesta had been out-developed by the Toyotas and Hyundais, leaving him unable to realistically contend and once again without a drive for 2021. As Lappi concedes today, the experience was damaging for not only his career but also his mental state.

Citroen's pullout left Lappi with M-Sport as his only option for 2020, and the car's lack of development left him demoralised

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“The last two years I was quite stressed,” Lappi recalls. “In the beginning of the Citroen year it started okay. We had a podium in Sweden and it looked promising, but then the challenges started.

“The first half of the season was really challenging and tricky for me personally. I just couldn’t drive the car the way I wanted and I couldn’t adapt enough. That was very stressful, and then we all know how it ended at the end of the year.

“I got a chance at M-Sport, the beginning of the year [2020] was fine but then we had COVID and the development stopped with the car. Even if you did a perfect stage with the car, it was just missing a bit of performance in my opinion. I started to feel that, 'No matter what I do, it is not enough', and it took away the motivation, so it was stressful time as well.”

Facing the prospect of spending 2021 without a works drive, Lappi's future wasn’t looking particularly bright. But a change of mindset proved the catalyst for revival. A return to rallying came via a Movisport-run Volkswagen Polo in WRC2 and it was a more relaxed and mature Lappi who stormed to wins in Arctic Rally Finland and Portugal - catching the eye of newly-installed Toyota boss Latvala, who had taken over from Tommi Makinen in December 2020.

With Ogier moving into semi-retirement for this year, an opportunity emerged for a Lappi-Toyota reunion and his WRC reprieve was officially confirmed in October following a fourth-place finish in September's Rally Finland - effectively an audition in a privateer entry supported by Toyota. While the Finland result was important for sealing his return to the big time, Lappi says there was a greater significance to it as well.

“I got the self confidence back that I can still do it,” he says. “That is why I try to be relaxed and believe in myself more.”

When asked if he thinks he’s a better driver now, Lappi replies: “I don’t think much has changed since the time at M-Sport. But since the time at Toyota, definitely yes. I have gained many years of experience and experience matters a lot in my opinion. I feel I’m at my best at the moment, and I’m sure I can develop a lot. But I should be at my best.

Lappi made a strong comeback last year in the WRC2 class, winning on Arctic Rally Finland and in Portugal (pictured)

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“When you have nothing and then you get an offer like this to share the [third Toyota] car and do more than half of the events, it is very interesting. We will try to do our best, as always, and I hope we can do so well that it will help my future as well.”

When the subject of his return to Toyota is mentioned, it’s clear what it means to Lappi. He sees this as a homecoming of sorts, rather than the strange feeling of returning to a team hoping to re-live past glories.

A strong showing driving the third Toyota GR Yaris could result in promotion to a full-time drive in 2023, a clear extra motivating factor to make the most of this rarest of WRC redemption chances

“It didn’t feel weird,” he says when asked how it felt to be rejoining Toyota. “It felt like I belong here, at least when I sat in the 2017 car in the test before Finland. It felt this is where I belong. It didn’t feel weird at all - it was more of a homecoming. The team has changed a bit, but there is still a lot of people that I know.”

The future is very much part of Lappi’s mindset, being of an age where his best years could still be ahead of him. A strong showing driving the third Toyota GR Yaris could result in promotion to a full-time drive in 2023, a clear extra motivating factor to make the most of this rarest of WRC redemption chances.

“I need to wait and get into the programme before I can set any precise targets, but the target is to get a seat for 2023,” he says. “When we are at the beginning of the season, everyone has zero points so it is the same chance for everyone. It is a possibility that we can be very successful.”

As Lappi’s full WRC comeback at Rally Sweden approaches, featuring an entry list without Ogier and Sebastien Loeb for the first time since 2006, the Finn certainly has an opportunity to start his second stint at Toyota on a high.

Lappi passed his audition in a fourth Yaris on last year's Rally Finland, but he knows his job is only just starting

Photo by: Jaanus Ree - Red Bull Content Pool