ERC – Esapekka Lappi and Skoda shine in Ireland

Esapekka Lappi takes his second victory in three starts this season in ERC. After Rally Liepaja, the Skoda driver brilliantly won the Rally of Ireland after taking ten stage wins in 18 special stages. This new success for the Finn allows him to regain control of the Championship against Craig Breen who retired at the start of the day following a mechanical problem on his Peugeot 208 T16 (his teammate Kevin Abbring having retired the day before following a radiator problem). " It was a rally absolutely perfect. We were supposed to fight today but it ended after a stage. We just stayed on the road,” declares the winner.

Skoda takes the double with Sepp Wiegand who managed to put enough pressure on Robert Barrable so that the driver of the Fiesta R5 made a slight error enough to fall to third position 7" behind at the finish. Robert Consani signs his best result with the Peugeot 5 S207, finishing just off the podium ahead of Neil Simpson's Fabia S2000. Daniel McKenna placed sixth in his Citroën DS2000 R3T which won in 3WD. The Irishman was 2 seconds ahead of his compatriot Josh Moffett who won in Production with his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.

Discover the report from the Rally Ireland in issue 1957 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.