Top Performer - Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm
He didn't stand on the top step of the podium, but in the words of Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul, “For me, Esapekka has been the man of the rally.”
The one-time WRC rally winner delivered one of the drives of his career to finish second behind eventual winner and Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville. He took the fight to Toyota’s eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier as the pair played out an intense head-to-head that included seven lead changes across 10 of the 19 stages. The pair were split by 0.1s in Lappi’s favour at the end of Friday.
While Lappi impressed, in at times incredibly challenging wet and Safari Rally-like conditions, the story of this performance stems from the work he carried out behind the scenes. The former Citroen, M-Sport and Toyota driver found something in a pre-event test at Hyundai’s Finnish test base. He admitted it was a risky set-up gamble but pushed his engineers to go with it for Sardinia. He stuck to his instincts and it paid off handsomely.
Source: Autosport