Just re-read that last paragraph… you won’t hear Semenuk saying he’s pleased with second again. Then again, he was second to former Rally Finland winner and Finnish Rally Championship leader Esapekka Lappi.
Second to Lappi spoke volumes about where Semenuk’s at. He’d been winning Stateside rallies for fun for years now, but where was his actual pace? There was a shot at Rally Latvia last year, but such were the fraught circumstances around that ride, it wasn’t a fair assessment.
This was.
“From the minute I landed into Finland, this was just such an enjoyable experience,” he said. “I’m so happy about that. In Latvia, I never settled in to a point where I could start learning and just enjoy the event. It felt like a struggle before I even landed. Regardless of it being a poor event, it still helped me prepare for the next trip to Europe. Here, the test went well, the recce was cool and the rally was amazing. If I’m honest, the driving was s*** to start with, but as the time went on, I was driving more like I wanted to.
“But I just loved it. Especially the chance to meet Esapekka [Lappi] and some of these other big Finnish names like Niclas [Grönholm]. Genuinely, Esapekka is one of my favorite drivers to watch and meeting him was great. It’s just like his energy, it’s so calm, he’s such a chill dude with no BS. Talking to him is so refreshing, there’s no filter, just completely straightforward and cool – and, obviously, a super-talented driver!