Janne Ferm is a Finnish rally co-driver. He has been alongside Esapekka since 2010! Last week’s Rally Chile Bio Bío marked Ferm’s 90th and, unfortunately, final WRC start😞. He announced his retirement on the final day of the event. It was a bittersweet moment. In his rich career, we all saw him celebrate two victories, 15 podiums, and 77 stage wins. Ferm initially planned to retire at the end of the 2023 season, but when Esapekka Lappi moved to a part-time role at Hyundai, he managed to convince his partner to stay for another year. (“It was already on my mind since last year,” Ferm told WRC.com, “but when EP said that we could do a part-time season, I said this would be okay. But now it’s time to move away.”)
This is what I mean when I say rally is more than just a sport. It’s friendship, emotions, trust, appreciation, and loyalty. From 2011 to today, Janne has been following Lappi’s career from Finnish national rallies to the WRC in Škoda, Toyota, Citroën, M-Sport, and finally, Hyundai.
“First of all, I need to thank him for all these years. We’ve had 15 seasons together. I was a rookie when we started. We both were. We’ve climbed up the hill to be professionals for many years and now this journey comes to an end.”
“I’m pretty sure we will sit together still at some point, you know, to do some funny stuff in the rally car, but not professionally. So, yeah, only positives and really thankful for him about it.”
“He’s been the loudest laugher of the pit. If you don’t know where he is, but you hear the laugh, you know he’s present somewhere nearby. And it doesn’t even need to be nearby, because you can hear it from far away. But yeah, I’m sure we all will miss his jokes, his sense of humour,” said Lappi in an interview for WRC.
But on the bright side, Janne isn’t giving up his co-driving career entirely: he will sit alongside Heikki Kovalainen for next month’s RallyLegend in San Marino aboard a Citroën C3 WRC! As for EP, I’m looking forward to seeing who will be his next co-driver!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAg4tAXo75a/?igsh=dm5tZDd6cmNrbHF5
I was lucky enough to have been able to meet both Lappi and Janne. We had an amazing conversation every time; they are such cool guys :)!
Best of luck to Janne💕😌!
