Kiwis Hayden Paddon and John Kennard are in sixth position on the leader-board after the first day of action (Friday, CET) on the Tour de Corse. Competing in round 10 of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship, the pair were in fifth overall after the morning’s two special stages despite having to contend with slight issues with their pace notes. Two punctures on the afternoon’s repeated loop added to the challenges as the pair continued to work on developing their pace on this iconic tarmac rally. Just 7.5 seconds separates Paddon and fifth-placed Craig Breen.
Paddon said: “I’m definitely feeling more comfortable on these Corsican stages in the dry conditions we have had today. It’s not been a perfect day but we can see some positives, as well as some places to improve. We needed some adjustments to our pace notes after the opening run.
“The car was sliding around too much but we found a better direction for the repeat loop. It was a case of building things up step by step. We were doing precisely that but we had a puncture 8km from the end of the final stage, which lost us a bit of time. We’ll just work to take the positives from today forward into the rest of the weekend and see if we can break into the top-five.”
Overall Hyundai Motorsport has had a mixed opening day for this weekend’s Rally de France – Tour de Corse, the tenth round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).
Thierry Neuville holds a provisional podium at the conclusion of the first four stages, showing the sort of pace that resulted in a top-three finish in Rallye Deutschland last month. Hayden Paddon is in the mix for the top-five in his New Generation i20 WRC. However, there was late drama for Dani Sordo, as the Spaniard dropped out of the top-three positions after a puncture midway through SS4, the final stage of the day.
Despite only four stages being run on Friday, drivers have still had to negotiate a total of 157 competitive kilometres, including two runs through the daunting 49.72km Acqua Doria – Albitreccia. Teams have also been faced with the added challenge of no lunchtime service. A remote tyre-fitting zone in the seaside town of Porticcio was the only break in between the morning and afternoon loops.
Unlike twelve months ago, where heavy rain affected the rally, today’s stages have been held in hot and dry conditions. All of the Hyundai Motorsport crews have identified room for improvement but are in positive spirits as the team aims to add another podium to its 2016 results this weekend.
Saturday’s itinerary takes in a further four stages, totalling 169km. The 53.72km Orezza – La Porta – Valle di Rostino stage will kick things off before crews move onto the 30.80km Novella-Pietralba test. A lunchtime service will split the two loops.
Overall Classification after Day One
S. Ogier / J. Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) 1:37:52.8
T. Neuville / N. Gilsoul (Hyundai New Generation i20 WRC) +44.0
J.M Latvala / M. Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) +58.0
A. Mikkelsen / A. Jaeger (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) +59.3
C. Breen / S. Martin (Citroën DS3 WRC) +1:18.7
H. Paddon / J. Kennard (Hyundai New Generation i20 WRC) +1:26.2
E. Camilli / B. Veillas (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +2:00.7
E. Evans / C. Parry (Ford Fiesta R5) +2:36.3
D. Sordo / M. Martí (Hyundai New Generation i20 WRC) +2:39.1
M. Østberg / O. Floene (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +2:41.9
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