Cheers in his ears…

Today, I was privileged.

I stood on the stop line of the SS11, Äänekoski — Valtra 2 stage of Rally Finland 2017 and witnessed a changing of the guard take place before my eyes.

Seconds earlier, Finnish hopeful Esapekka Lappi had just won his seventh stage of the rally. He had every reason to be happy.

We all knew this young star was in the ascendent but today he confirmed it in style — on home soil, in front of his compatriots.

As he pulled away from that Äänekoski stop line, the cheers of Finnish rally fans from behind the safety barriers, grew and grew. No sooner had he selected first gear and moved away, he stopped again — ever so briefly — to look and take in this new found adulation.

As he waved in appreciation, I glimpsed an almost coy smile spread widely across his face in the car. He looked like a man who knew he’d arrived.

Today he proved to everyone — he most certainly has.