Hayden Paddon has completed the opening leg of Rally Silesia with one hand firmly on landing back-to-back FIA European Rally Championship titles.
Ahead of Sunday’s deciding leg, Paddon leads Andrea Mabellini by 6.8sec with title rival Mathieu Franceschi languishing in fifth place.
If the current positions remain unchanged, Paddon will take ERC title gold for the second year running with a margin of 35 points aboard his Pirelli-equipped Hyundai i20 N Rally2.
“Being clean and precise is probably the key,” said the New Zealander, who set the quickest pace on five of Saturday’s seven asphalt stages. “I think when you start pushing you start over-driving and losing time. Obviously, we’re carrying extra weight with the extra tyres, there’s more in it but we’re quite comfortable doing what we’re doing at the moment.”
While Paddon has excelled in southern Poland, Franceschi, who opted to go first on the road, struggled with handling issues, particularly during the morning loop when low ambient and ground temperatures made the low-grip stages even more precarious.
Having bagged his breakthrough ERC podium on the last round in Wales, Mabellini reached the midday service halt at the Silesian Stadium 1.0sec behind Paddon on the back of a fine performance for Team MRF Tyres. Although the Italian slipped back during the afternoon in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, he remains firmly on course for a second consecutive runner-up result with team-mate Simone Tempestini 18.7sec behind in third.
Miko Marczyk, who won the Katowice Super Special Stage on Friday evening, dropped from third to fifth when he went off the road nearing the finish of SS3. But hit back to cement fourth place at close of play.
“We were off in the gravel part on the last corner, it was very muddy and it was fortunate we come back after some seconds of loss,” said Marczyk, who is currently third in the ERC championship standings. “It was a long right corner that tightens, the finish of the gravel part. It was muddy, I was already opening the throttle and I lost the position from the road to the outside, my fault.”
After his AMD Motorport team made multiple set-up changes to his Michelin-shod Fabia RS Rally2 at midday service to “have more precision”, Franceschi demoted Grzegorz Grzyb to fifth on SS7 with Grzyb falling to sixth ahead of Jon Armstrong.
Armstrong’s bid for a breakthrough ERC podium suffered an early setback when his Ford Fiesta Rally2 lost power before the two-kilometre mark of SS2. The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver was also delayed on SS3 with a half-spin. But he showed what might have been on SS4 by banking his second ERC career stage win despite running wide nearing the end of the Gmina Jasienica stage. He then repeated the feat when the stage was repeated in the afternoon.
Yoann Bonato (Citroën C3 Rally2) is eighth on his comeback from serious injury followed by Polish championship leader Jarosław Szeja and Zbigniew Gabryś.
SS7 was red-flagged after Meirion Evans crashed his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 at high speed. Although he and co-driver Jonathan Jackson were uninjured, with the road blocked at the 15.6km mark, rally officials were forced to stop the action.
Hankook-equipped Swedish drivers Mille Johansson (Ford Fiesta Rally3) and Calle Carlberg lead FIA ERC3 and FIA Junior ERC respectively. Opel Corsa Rally4 driver Carlberg also ahead in ERC4.
Sunday’s deciding leg of the 2024 ERC season covers six stages over a competitive distance of 81.56 kilometres. The action begins with the 11.45 kilometres of Marklowice Górne from 08:55 local time with the Silesian Voivodeship Power Stage due to get under way at 16:05.
Standings after Saturday:
1/ H Paddon / J Kennard NZL Hyundai i20 N 56m 30.1s
2/ A Mabellini / V Lenzi ITA Škoda Fabia RS +06.8s
3/ S Tempestini / F Maior ROU Škoda Fabia RS +25.5s
4/ M Marczyk / S Gospodarczyk POL Škoda Fabia RS 29.9s
5/ M Franceschi / A Malfoy FRA Škoda Fabia RS +42.3s
6/ G Grzyb / A Binieda POL Škoda Fabia RS +45.4s
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