5th in Portugal for Lappi

The last day in Portugal was made up of five short stages in the Fafe region, and Lappi made a flying start with a stage win on the opening test to move up from fifth to fourth overall. He traded the position with Dani Sordo over the next two stages, but after the rally he was given a 10-second time penalty for an infringement on Friday evening’s street stage, which dropped him back to fifth. He did however take victory on the rally-ending Power Stage, claiming five bonus points to move up to fifth in the drivers’ championship.

“Today we just continued like we ended yesterday: flat out all the time. In the end, we just couldn’t catch Suninen. It was a tough, tough fight. He did a good job and deserved the podium. However, I have to be pleased to take five points from the Power Stage as well. I have now won half of the Power Stages this year, and this is important, because I now have 15 points just from these three stages alone. I’m pretty satisfied with the weekend: we didn’t make any mistakes, and that is what we were looking for.”