Esapekka Lappi got his Finnish Rally Championship started in record-breaking style at the Arctic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi this weekend. In the second rally of the season, Lappi  -  a member of the Finnish Autosport Association ran Driver Academy for talented young drivers - became the youngest ever winner of the iconic event.

The rally was raced in Lapland for the 47th time this year. After winning the first race in Riihimäki with his Ford Fiesta S2000, Lappi and his co-driver Janne Ferm now lead the Finnish Championship with maximum points overall.

Lappi grabbed the lead on SS2 and wet on to build his lead with victory on Saturday's first four stages. He had a 38.8 second advantage against the second-placed Juha Salo before the last 47km stage. The final margin between Lappi and Salo was 37.5 seconds. The pair were in a class of their own, finishing more than 3 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack.

"This feels awesome!" said Lappi after the event. "I did not believe we could win here because this is a speedy rally, but we did it."

Building confidence in his Ford Fiesta S2000, Lappi completed a two-day test in the lead up to the rally in Rovaniemi.

"Just like in the first race in Riihimäki, we did not come here with the specific goal of winning the rally. The most important thing for me is to learn how to drive the car and to develop our pacenotes. And our pacenotes were great! It was a wonderful feeling driving on these fast and well-kept roads in a nice rhythm. We did not have to push to the limit at any stage,

"Of course we are very proud to win this rally. This is a collective effort, with my co-driver Janne [Ferm], our team Printsport who built and maintained our car, our sponsors and the rally organisers. This would not be possible without all these people, and we are eternally grateful to them," smiles Lappi.

The next rally in the Finnish Championship series will be raced in Mikkeli, in late February.