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Lappi: Citroën potential appeals

Esapekka Lappi admitted his switch to Citroën Racing could be considered a risk - but he firmly believes in the potential of the manufacturer's C3 WRC.

The Finn's move from Toyota Gazoo Racing to the French team was confirmed yesterday (17 October), alongside the news that Kris Meeke is heading in the opposite direction for the 2019 season.

Lappi told wrc.com he is looking forward to accepting the ‘challenge' of trying to show the full potential of the C3, a car that has won twice in almost two full seasons of WRC competition.

"I think the car has big potential," he explained. "The team has improved it in the last six months. I think there is still something to do but the car already shows even better performance.

"It could be even better than it is now, that's why I like the challenge - to prove that actually, the car is not so bad."

However, Lappi did acknowledge that moving from the team currently leading the manufacturers' championship to sign a two-year deal with the squad currently propping up the table could be considered a risk.

"It looks a bad decision to the outsiders, they think: ‘why the hell should I take this risk?' because we are leading [the championship] now with Toyota and Citroën in last. For sure, there is some kind of risk. But I don't believe so much that it is," he said.

"I believe 100 per cent that it will be okay. It is not a bad car, maybe there has just been more than enough bad luck for the drivers who were driving and maybe some small mistakes as well which are ruining the team's efforts."

The 27-year-old, who graduated to Toyota after dominating WRC 2 in 2016, said his switch to Citroën wasn't motivated by any dissatisfaction with the form he's shown in the Yaris WRC during the last two seasons.

He explained: "I don't think it is coming from the results, because it is a winning car, a leading team at the moment. I am quite satisfied with what we have done. The mistakes and little problems we have had are coming from driver errors and not from the car."

The 2017 Neste Rally Finland winner will join Sébastien Ogier at Citroën and Lappi is relishing the chance to link up with the five-time world champion.

"I managed to learn something from Jari-Matti [Latvala] and Ott [Tänak] at Toyota," he said. "And now next year I will be able to try and learn something from Seb.

"Then I should have the pieces - if I can put everything together - to be a successful driver. It is again an opportunity to learn some new tricks."

Zdroj: wrc.com