Kiwi Hayden Paddon leads Rally Italia Sardegna after the first full day of action on Friday (CEST). With British co-driver Sebastian Marshall alongside, the Hyundai Motorsport crew had a very consistent day of top three and top five stage times to take the lead in special stage five. Despite a small suspension issue later in the day, the pair managed to slightly extend their leading margin to 8.2 seconds.
“I’m really happy to be leading at the end of the day,” said Paddon. “It’s been a tough day. Today’s stages were very tight and technical and maybe didn’t suit us, but we had a plan which was to keep it clean and tidy today. Too often this year we’ve been caught out on the Friday, so today was a nice, clean day with no risks. To be leading is a nice surprise. We had a couple of issues that we had to manage this afternoon with a small suspension problem, but we didn’t lose too much time and we were able to keep the lead. That’s important for Saturday as that now gives us a good road position to be at the back of the field, so that will help us. Now that we’re in this position, we want to fight. Tomorrow’s stages I enjoy a lot more and we’ll push a lot more as well and see if we can defend it. Looking forward to a good day tomorrow and to continue like this.”
Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville slotted into second place on Friday’s final stage after the rally’s top five reshuffled several times throughout the day.
With the running order for Saturday’s and Sunday’s stage now the reverse of the rally classification, Paddon will have the road-clearing benefit of running last among the WRC competitors. There are 143.16 competitive kilometres divided into six special stages tomorrow and four stages to wrap up the rally on Sunday.
Overall Classification after Day One
1 H. Paddon S. Marshall Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 31:02.6
2 T. Neuville N. Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 8.2
3 O. Tanak M. Jarveoja Ford Fiesta WRC 9.5
4 J.M Latvala M. Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC 9.8
5 M. Østberg O. Floene Ford Fiesta WRC 14.7
6 J. Hänninen K. Lindstrom Toyota Yaris WRC 38
7 S. Ogier J. Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 41
8 E. Lappi J. Ferm Toyota Yaris WRC +1:05.3
9 A. Mikkelsen A. Jaeger Citroën C3 WRC +1:57.9
10 E. Camilli B. Veillas Ford Fiesta R5 +4:08.0
Comments