Quote Originally Posted by Mirek View Post
Lappi hasn't been exactly impressive in last several years, (…) he managed to succeed only at the second attempt in WRC2 while he was driving a works car against mainly privateer competitors. Besides that he managed to crash in majority of asphalt events which he did (…)
Really?!? So, Evans, Tideman and Kopecky were privateers…mate, the only privateer that was fighting for WRC2 ’16 title with Skoda and MSport guys was Suninen, and even he was paid by a manu (TMG). Lappi beat fair and square all of them and his SS’s wins record speaks for himself: 66 wins all season long, against 37 for Suninen, 35 for Evans, 34 for Tideman and 29 for Kopecky. Besides wining 3 gravel rallies he also won Germany and his only serious mistake was being stuck on a ditch in Sweden (he still finished 3rd). Without Italy and Poland mechanical problems he would have become champion much sooner.

Lappi has been repeatedly diminished on this forum and honestly I can’t understand why. He’s clearly one of the most talented drivers of his generation and he totally deserves a WRC seat. I won’t say (yet) that he’s a future WRC champ (I’m also concerned about EstWRC bleeding eyes condition…) but no one can seriously doubt that he’s fast on gravel and on tarmac (not so common on a Finn) and that last year he hugely improved his reliability.

Quote Originally Posted by steve.mandzij View Post
Honestly, I have high expectations. What's for sure is that he has two possible outcomes: become a Breen or become a Lefebvre.
Like the others have said, it’ll be a learning season for him (straight from a R5 to a WRC’17 car) and I hope he can make a sensible and steady progression, even if I wouldn’t be surprised to see him getting close to the top 5 in some events. Best luck to him!