Lappi keeps Pontus at bay in WRC 2
Skoda duo in charge of Rally Poland support category
WRC 2: Lappi heads Skoda’s Polish 1-2
Esapekka Lappi dominated WRC 2 at 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland to earn Skoda Motorsport’s first victory since joining the support category with its Fabia R5 three rallies ago.
The Finn took the lead in the second stage on Friday morning and was never again headed as he pulled clear of team-mate Pontus Tidemand. The margin of victory after almost 300km of sandy speed tests in the north of the country was 56.1sec.
“I can’t be more satisfied. We only had to push on Friday and from then on it was just a question of keeping a cool head and controlling the lead,” said Lappi, who climbed to fifth in the championship standings.
The two drivers won seven stages each. Next best was Karl Kruuda who claimed three wins and took third in Citroën’s DS 3 R5. The Estonian was second until a puncture on Friday afternoon cost a minute and relegated him to third.
Jari Ketomaa finished fourth, the Finn climbing the order after a trouble-filled opening day in his Ford Fiesta R5. That was enough to promote the Drive DMACK pilot back into the points lead following the retirement of Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Germany’s Armin Kremer finished fifth in another Fabia R5, with young Finn Teemu Suninen scoring the best result of his career in sixth in an older specification Fabia S2000.
Joan Carchat won the Production Cup category in WRC 2 in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Carchat, from Andorra, finished 1min 14.5sec ahead of Italy’s Max Rendina in a similar car.
