WRC Rally Estonia: Lappi tops wet shakedown as Katsuta rolls

WRC Estonia: Lappi tops wet shakedown as Katsuta rolls

Esapekka Lappi topped the timesheets in a wet Rally Estonia shakedown. Meanwhile, Lappi’s Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta rolled but managed to come back to service.

The Toyota mechanics have a busier afternoon than anticipated as they have to repair the car before tonight’s SS1. Katsuta had a mid-corner oversteer moment in a lefthander and couldn’t prevent his car from going off the road on the left side of the road and rolled into the bushes.

VIDEO: Katsuta’s off in Rally Estonia’s shakedown

Lappi completed a late fifth run to go to the top of the timesheets on what was a rainy Thursday morning in Estonia. The Finn’s rapid pace was seven tenths faster than Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and 1.1s faster than his Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanperä.

Home hero Ott Tänak set the fourth fastest time, six tenths of a second behind Rovanperä and sixth tenths ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans. Oliver Solberg finished shakedown in P6, half a second adrift of Evans and six tenths ahead of Craig Breen and Takamoto Katsuta who shared P7.

M-Sport drivers Gus Greensmith, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Adrien Fourmaux were ninth, tenth and eleventh fastest respectively, all completing the mandatory four runs.

ERC’s Rally Poland winner Mikołaj Marczyk was the fastest WRC2 driver in P12 overall.

Rally Estonia gets underway this evening with a 1.66 km long Super Special Stage just outside of the service park in Tartu. The first car will start the stage at 20:38 local time (19:38 CEST, 18:38 BST).

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WRC Rally Estonia 2022 – Shakedown results

#DriversCarTime / Diff. to 1st
1.Lappi / FermToyota GR Yaris Rally12:53.3
2.Neuville / WydaegheHyundai i20 N Rally1+0.7
3.Rovanperä / HalttunenToyota GR Yaris Rally1+1.1
4.Tänak / JärveojaHyundai i20 N Rally1+1.7
5.Evans / MartinToyota GR Yaris Rally1+2.3
6.Solberg / EdmondsonHyundai i20 N Rally1+2.8
7.Breen / NagleFord Puma Rally1+3.4
7.Katsuta / JohnstonToyota GR Yaris Rally1+3.4
9.Greensmith / AnderssonFord Puma Rally1+3.8
10.Loubet / LandaisFord Puma Rally1+4.0
11.Fourmaux / CoriaFord Puma Rally1+5.3

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing