This moment looked so far from happening – both physically and emotionally.
Retiring before the powerstage of Rally Chile was a lame way for co-driver Janne Ferm’s World Rally Championship career to end after two victories and 13 further podiums.
It looked like a lame way for Lappi to bow out, too. Unlike Ferm, he didn’t publicly confirm his retirement from world rallying, but his body language told as much as any words could. He was done.
Lappi was off to the Finnish championship instead, driving a Škoda Rally2 with new co-driver Enni Mälkonen – and loving it. The WRC was a world away, so much so that Lappi recommited to Finland and did a deal with Škoda Suomi (Finland) for another campaign.
But then the phone rang. Would Lappi like to come back for some rallies with Hyundai in 2026? Cyril Abiteboul wanted to know.
Lappi took some time to think, and the answer was yes – so long as it worked with his program in Finland.
Lappi has been driving on ice and snow a lot, but not in a Rally1
So here Lappi is: back in the WRC, back with Hyundai. Talking to DirtFish on the pre-event recce, his demeanour could not have been any different to the crestfallen character he cut in Chile.
“It feels a bit like [I’m] a small boy, some excitement,” he smiled. “I wasn’t expecting to feel like this, but I take it as it is.”
The grin was similarly palpable across co-driver Mälkonen’s face, who herself returns to the world championship after Sami Pajari elected to take Marko Salminen as his co-driver for 2025.
“Condition-wise, yes [I feel ready],” Lappi continued. “Car-wise, we all know if you are one year away from the top level, it’s not so easy, so we need to be realistic in terms of that, but I feel OK.”
Lappi’s form is red-hot though; he’s won each of his last seven rallies and took victory at his last Rally Sweden start in 2024.
Can he win this one?
“At the moment, it’s easy to say, yeah, no problem,” he said. “But, you know, like I said, we need to be realistic.”
