Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have secured a second consecutive outright EROAD Australian Rally Championship victory after taking out Heat 2 of the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland.
Having finished second in Heat 1, five stage wins on Sunday and a DNF from Saturday winners Harry Bates and Coral Taylor, contributed to Paddon’s comfortable 42-second Heat 2 victory, which saw him take overall honours.
“We didn’t expect it this weekend. We just wanted to try and limit the damage this weekend so it’s nice to build a bit of a championship lead,” Paddon said. “Once Harry (Bates) had the puncture on the second stage, I was just managing the car all day, which is never nice to drive like that. You’re just trying to avoid punctures or mistakes. So, today hasn’t been an easy day.”
Taking out second place for the Heat was Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia’s Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, while Interstelli Fleet Racing’s Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney finished the day in third place.
The top-three finish for Rullo and Glenney gave the pair their first outright podium of the season as they ended up runner-up overall, rounding out the event podium were Clayton Hoy and Erin Kelly.
In what was a mighty effort for the Mitsubishi Evo 6 pilots, the pair not only finished on the outright podium but comfortably won the WOLF Production Cup both for Heat 2 and the event overall.
Heat 2 of the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland proved slightly less chaotic than Heat 1, however, there was still plenty of drama to occur, with Harry and Taylor in the thick of it.
A close opening stage between the Hyundai i20N Rally 2 of Paddon and the Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 of Harry looked to have set up a nice battle between the pair for the rest of the day, only for a puncture on the next stage to cost Harry more than a minute.
A victory on the day’s third stage gave Paddon a comfortable lead before the New Zealander effectively secured the victory when Harry and Taylor ran wide on the first stage after Service and bent the car’s rear arm – The significant damage put them out for the rest of the day.
Paddon went on to win the two of the final three stages to take the victory and extend his lead at the top of the EROAD Australian Rally Championship standings.
A well-deserved second place on Sunday and victory in the Power Stage for Lewis and McLoughlin helped the pair overcome a 10th place on Saturday to end up fourth for the event, while Irishmen Patrick O’Brien and Shane Farrell guided their Ford Fiesta R5 to fifth in Heat 2, which helped them round out the outright top five.
Finishing Heat 2 and the event overall in sixth outright were Subaru WRX Challenge winners Toby Price and Holly Kilbride, while Harry and Taylor’s disappointing Sunday saw them finish seventh for the weekend.
Teenager Jackson Long’s debut season continues to impress after the eventual overall ARC Junior Cup winner steered the Subaru Impreza RS to sixth in the Heat, while fellow juniors Jaidyn and Lucy Gluskie ended up ninth.
Making up the final place in the top 10 were Glenn Brinkmann and Scott Beckwith.
In the remaining cups, Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newell took out the ARC 2WD Cup, while Molly Spalding and Matthew Dillon took out top honours in the ARC 4WD Classic Cup.
“The game plan was to try and win the next two rounds and get back the points deficit of what we lost (with the crash with the kangaroo),” said Paddon. “So, we’ve done that and obviously got a lead. So that’s more than we expected.
“I think we’ll probably go to rallies now that should suit us a little bit better, but again, it’s all new territory for us.”
The EROAD Australian Rally Championship season continues next month with The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally in Victoria on 22–24 August.
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