Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have safely reached the end of the first day (Friday, CEST) of the Tour de Corse, round four of the FIA World Rally Championship and the first full tarmac event of the season.
The New Zealanders hold seventh position overall, but are looking to improve when the event dubbed the rally of 10,000 corners continues on Saturday. Friday’s itinerary contained just four special stages that twist across the mountainous island of Corsica, with Paddon and Kennard setting the eighth quickest times in the first two stages and the seventh quickest times in the afternoon’s repeated runs.
Speaking at the midday regroup, Paddon said: “The first stage was a bit patchy damp, so difficult to get the confidence. A lot of mud coming out on the road. The second stage felt no bad, but the time not where I wanted it to be, so will have to look at the data and see where we’re losing time.”
At day’s end, Paddon said it had been a difficult day. “Okay, it’s felt not so bad inside the car and with the driving, I feel we’re making some good steps forward, but just haven’t been producing the times. We’re a little bit confused why that’s happening at the moment, so we need to sit down with the engineers overnight and see if we can make some improvements overnight. But a long way to go, tomorrow’s a big day. Of course we want to be up higher than seventh, so we’ll see if we can try and improve on that tomorrow, and see if we can keep making steps forward.”
Paddon and the team will analyse data and make set-up adjustments in service, in a bid to have more confidence and pace for tomorrow’s 132km of stages.
Classification after Day One
1 K. Meeke P. Nagle Citroën C3 WRC 1:16:32.1
2 S. Ogier J. Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC +10.3
3 T. Neuville N. Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +25.8
4 C. Breen S. Martin Citroën C3 WRC +52.4
5 D. Sordo M. Martí Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +53.8
6 J. M. Latvala M. Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC +1:00.2
7 H. Paddon J. Kennard Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +1:18.8
8 S. Lefebvre G. Moreau Citroën C3 WRC +2:07.6
9 A. Mikkelsen A. Jaeger Škoda Fabia R5 +2:57.3
10 S. Sarrazin J. J. Renucci Škoda Fabia R5 +3:17.8
Comments