Part-time pairing Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferm successfully navigated through 18 challenging snow stages to score a second career win with a 29.6-second margin over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
Lappi’s triumph ended a six and a half-year victory drought, arriving on the first start of his 2024 part-time programme.
M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux claimed a milestone maiden WRC podium, finishing 47.9s behind Lappi.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville finished fourth (+1m46.3s), while Oliver Solberg finished an impressive fifth overall (+5m04.2s) to secure the WRC2 class win on home soil.
Changeable weather conditions added to the challenge for crews as heavy snow showers helped turn the leaderboard on its head on Friday.
Retuning reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera, making the first start of his part-time programme with Toyota, started the event in ominous form, winning the opening two tests.
But his victory bid came to a halt when he lost control of his GR Yaris and crashed heavily into a snowbank on Friday’s stage four.
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak suffered a similar fate on the same stage, as the 2019 world champion exited Friday’s action from third, following a similar incident that damaged his i20 N’s radiator.
M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster also lost four minutes on the stage due to a puncture.
The demise of Rovanpera and Tanak handed Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta an 11.4s lead over Lappi. Katsuta and Lappi then became locked in a head-to-head battle for the lead as heavy snow showers hampered those at the top of the road order.