Esapekka Lappi believes that there is no real gap between Toyota Gr Yaris and Hyundai i20N after his first test with his new car in Finland and admits that the Korean car is pretty simple to drive despite the negative comments that have been done on its handling.
The Finn driver left Toyota at the end of 2022 and joined Hyundai Motorsport for 2023 as the Alzenau-based team offered him a full-season programme. They scheduled a winter test for him in Finland on December 14th and he had the chance to test some new things ahead of the new season as everyone can notice from the videos on YouTube.
"For some reason, it felt pretty simple to drive", Lappi said.
"We all know there has been some challenging comments about the handling of the car, but to be honest, so far I have not found this the case, and I hope I don't find them in the future as well.
"It was very positive first few kilometres.
"Mainly for myself it has been about understanding everything and getting used to all the buttons and also how the car reacts to when we change some settings, so we know how to react if it is needed.
"It also allowed the team to understand what kind of car I want to have, what I like and what I prefer.
"We were also testing something new too, and you would have seen on the videos.
"It is hard to estimate what is the gap and if there is a gap between the two cars.
"As we have seen in the last six months Hyundai caught up a lot of performance compared to Toyota, and maybe at some races they were better than Toyota.
"I wouldn't say there is a gap between them, but it is very hard to estimate what is the difference.
"In the end, the cars are not so different.
"I think we are starting on a pretty equal level.
"I don't know all the stuff Toyota has done to the car for next year.
"I think Monte Carlo will be interesting".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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