ESAPEKKA LAPPI
Q&A
What convinced you to sign for Citroen?
“I was impressed with the effort they made to bring me and this team has so much data and so much history – we have the tools to be really successful. I decided after Finland [last year] to come. We discussed early in the season with Mr Budar [Pierre, team principal] and I felt he really wanted me in this team and he convinced me really well. I felt I would get a lot of support over here and these were strong things which are important for me. The car has been really fast on Tarmac all the time, there have been some difficulties on gravel but when Mads [Ostberg] did such a good result [finishing second] in Finland it was done from my side that this was a good place to go.”
What went wrong last year?
“There were a lot of my own mistakes. I think there was some misfortune from the car point of view, nothing crazy but many small things which disturbed me. I don’t know whether they come from bad preparation or something [else], but we had lot of issues on Fridays on some of the rallies. It was only me, but many times we had something which wasn’t right and that made my life really difficult. Let’s say maybe not mistakes, but these [were] things we did something wrong on the test and then it was wrong from the start of the rally.”
How does the C3 compare to theyariswrc?
“The view from the inside… on Yaris you can see more. The C3 has a smaller windscreen and there’s more [pitch] in the suspension. But, on the other hand, there is a bit of a difference on the engine side. I feel this one [the C3] has a bit more power from the top and maybe Toyota is more driveable, but clearly Citroen’s transmission is much better and there is many good things. In Portugal [at the first development test in December] I felt we had some work to do on gravel. The speed is not bad, we saw this on gravel rallies recently for Citroen – but I say we can be much faster. If we can fix these things, I can tell you, it will be the fastest car.”
Can you fight for the title this year?
“My objective for the season is to try and be better than last year. I need to improve my performance in every area and try to learn from Seb, what he does differently and try improve that way. For Monte Carlo, we should be quite familiar with the car, so for sure I want to fight in the top five like last year and I think it’s clearly possible. I don’t feel the car so difficult, so why not?”