Hayden Paddon and John Kennard are all set for a full day of rallying as Rally Finland high speed stages get underway on Friday morning (EEST). The New Zealanders were ninth quickest through the rally’s opening super special stage on Thursday evening where, as expected, the times were very close.
“The slowest stage we’re going to do this weekend I think,” Paddon told WRC Live. “I went wide on the first corner and sat out wide for a few moments.”
The short Harju test near the centre of the host town of Jyväskylä comprises a mix of asphalt roads and gravel tracks, with particular attention needed for a fast and tricky downhill descent into a tight turn between trees. Just three seconds separates Paddon’s time of 1m 48.9s from the joint fastest drivers Ott Tänak and Andreas Mikkelsen with a time of 1m 45.9s – not a significant time difference when there’s 331.72km of competitive stages to be contested on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Earlier on Thursday, Paddon and Kennard put their #4 Hyundai Shell World Rally Team New Generation i20 WRC car through its paces on the shakedown stage.
“Nice fast shakedown,” said Paddon of the 4.81km gravel test where he completed six runs. “We used the chance to do some extra runs for more info. We are ready!”
Friday’s itinerary gets underway with a 13.84km stage with the first car starting at 7.13am local time (4.13pm Friday, NZT) – where the sun rises at 4.35am – and the last stage starts at 8.30pm (5.30am NZT) in the long sun-lit evening with another run through the 2.27km Harji super special stage.
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