Esapekka and Janne celebrates victory

Just as they did three weeks ago at the Rally Finland, the ŠKODA works duo Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (FIN/FIN) in the Fabia R5 brought home a commanding win in the WRC 2 category. Their team-mates at ŠKODA Motorsport, Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler (CZ/CZ), crossed the finish line in second place.

August 22, 2016

Just as they did three weeks ago at the Rally Finland, the ŠKODA works duo Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (FIN/FIN) in the Fabia R5 brought home a commanding win in the WRC 2 category. Their team-mates at ŠKODA Motorsport, Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler (CZ/CZ), crossed the finish line in second place.

Lappi/Ferm clocked fastest time on six stages.

Victory in the WRC 2 class was decided on Saturday, the longest day at the Rally Germany. While the rally was characterised by twisting asphalt tracks through the Mosel vineyards around the rally centre of Trier on Friday and Sunday, Saturday was all about the legendary “Panzerplatte”. This is a section of track on the military training ground of Baumholder, which is characterised by medium-speed tracks on a mix of asphalt roads and slabs of concrete. On this stage, a clever tyre selection and a controlled offensive in changeable weather conditions saw Lappi quickly take the lead and go on to pull away from his rivals with several best times.

“I am over the moon,” said Lappi after his win at the Rally Germany. “To be honest,I wasn’t really expecting to be driving for the win here. But apart from a few slips on Friday morning, we made it through the stages flawlessly and quickly. Saturday in particular was perhaps the best day of my WRC 2 career on dirty asphalt to date. The FABIA R5 worked perfectly and we also made the correct tyre selection. We had a lot of grip. Thanks go to Skoda team!”

Victory at the Rally Germany sees Lappi move up into third place in the WRC 2 overall standings (82 points). ŠKODA Motorsport also took the lead in the team standings(125 points).

WRC2 Rally Germany top 5:

  1. Lappi/Ferm (FIN/FIN) Skoda Fabia R5
    2. Kopecký/Dresler (CZ/CZ) Skoda Fabia R5
    3. Kremer/Winklhofer (D/D) Skoda Fabia R5
    4. de Mevius/Jalet (B/B) Skoda Fabia R5
    5. Loubet/Landais (F/F) Citroen DS3 R5