Esapekka Lappi new recruit for Citroën Racing

A few minutes after Toyota, who confirmed the arrival in its ranks of Kris Meeke for 2019, Citroën Racing has formalized the recruitment of Finnish Esapekka Lappi from 2019.

The former resident of Toyota Gazoo Racing will support Sébastien Ogier next season, the Frenchman having already been confirmed by the French team earlier in the year. Champion ERC 2014, Lappi shone in WRC-2 with Skoda two years later before making his debut the following year for a partial program with Tommi Mäkinen's team.

Winner in Finland in 2017, Lappi scored three podiums this season at the wheel of the Yaris WRC, in Italy, Germany and Great Britain.

“I am obviously delighted to join the team and to be Sébastien’s future teammate, underlines Lappi. It’s a good opportunity for me to continue to progress. After learning from contact with Jari-Matti Latvala last year, and from Ott Tänak this year, I will have all the cards in my hands to be even better if I also manage to draw inspiration from Seb!

I am convinced that the car has a lot of potential, like the team, which has a great history in the discipline. Pierre's desire to recruit me also counted a lot in my choice. Then it’s also a great challenge to try to win together. »

“We wanted to enter two very competitive crews next year and the arrival of Esapekka is therefore excellent news, comments Pierre Budar, boss of Citroën Racing. It is in the DNA of our brand to trust young people and he certainly has the ideal profile.

Talented, determined, diligent, he should form a pair that is both complementary and formidable with Sébastien. He still has room for improvement, so we will make sure to put him in the best possible position to continue his impressive rise. »

It now remains to be seen under what circumstances Citroën Racing will field a third car in 2019, with why not a new one-off presence from Sébastien Loeb, who will be behind the wheel of the C3 WRC again in just under a fortnight in Spain.