Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have finished Wales Rally GB in fourth position, unable to close the gap to their Hyundai Motorsport team-mate Thierry Neuville on Sunday’s (UK time) final six stages.
Like in Spain, Paddon and co-driver Kennard only narrowly missed out on a podium finish. Despite a tough weekend, the Kiwi crew took their best Wales Rally GB result and hold fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, just three points adrift of third.
“We’ve had a hard weekend, so to take fourth place isn’t too bad,” commented Paddon. “We were involved in a tight battle with Thierry for the final podium position, but we weren’t able to take the fight any closer to him. All we could do was keep the gap as small as possible to remind him that we were there, but he had it covered.
“It’s the second rally in a row where we’ve just missed out, but there are still plenty of positives to take from this event. We know we have areas where we can improve in these conditions. I’ve had to work on adapting my driving style this weekend; this experience will be useful for the future. We now look ahead to Australia, with some positive momentum and a good road position.”
Hyundai Motorsport added another podium to its list of 2016 achievements after securing third place in Wales Rally GB, the penultimate round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).
The result means that Hyundai Motorsport has secured second place in the WRC Manufacturers’ Championship behind Volkswagen Motorsport with one rally still to run. It is the team’s best result having finished fourth in its debut season in 2014 and narrowly missing out on second place last year.
Third place in this weekend’s rally also marks the first Wales podium for the team in its third season of WRC after two previous fourth-place finishes.
At the end of 22 competitive stages, run over a total distance of 330km, Thierry Neuville was able to defend a hard-fought third position from team-mate Hayden Paddon. The Belgian also picked up an additional Championship point for claiming the third fastest time in the rally-concluding Power Stage.
Paddon finished the event in fourth position, just under 20 seconds behind Neuville, his personal best result in Wales Rally GB. Dani Sordo ensured all three New Generation i20 WRCs completed the tricky Welsh event inside the top-six with a steady run to sixth.
The final morning saw crews tackle six stages on the notoriously challenging and slippery Welsh gravel. The 7.70km Clocaenog, 10.41km Alwen and 7.93km Brenig stages all posed their own tests with the latter of the three acting as the Power Stage. Against a backdrop of autumnal colour, all three Hyundai Motorsport crews negotiated the muddy stages cleanly and without any major issues.
Rally Australia will bring the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship to its conclusion in three weeks’ time, taking place from 17-20 November.
Overall Final Classification
S. Ogier / J. Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) 3:14:30.2
O. Tanak / R. Molder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +10.2
T. Neuville / N. Gilsoul (Hyundai New Generation i20 WRC) +1:35.4
H. Paddon / J. Kennard (Hyundai New Generation i20 WRC) +1:54.9
K. Meeke / P. Nagle (Citroën DS3 WRC) +2:35.2
D. Sordo / M. Martí (Hyundai New Generation i20 WRC) +4:02.6
J. M. Latvala / M. Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) +4:28.3
M. Østberg / O. Floene (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +4:38.2
S. Lefebvre / G. De Turckheim (Citroën DS3 WRC) +7:12.2
E. Camilli / B. Veillas (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +8:19.3
2016 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
S. Ogier 247 points / T. Neuville 143 / A. Mikkelsen 129 / H. Paddon 126 / D. Sordo 119 / J. M. Latvala 110 / M. Østberg 94 / O. Tanak 82 / K. Meeke 64 / C. Breen 36 / E. Camilli 28 / S. Lefebvre 14 / H. Solberg 14 / E. Lappi 12 / M. Prokop 12 / K. Abbring 10 / T. Suninen 8 / P. Tidemand 8 / J. Kopecky 7 / M. Ligato 6 / E. Evans 6 / L. Bertelli 4 / N. Fuchs 2 / A. Kremer 2 / V. Gorban 1 / K. Kruuda 1
2016 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
Volkswagen Motorsport 322 points / Hyundai Motorsport 285 / M-Sport World Rally Team 154 Volkswagen Motorsport II 138 / Hyundai Motorsport N 136 / DMACK World Rally Team 92 / Jipocar Czech National Team 18 / Yazeed Racing 4
All results remain subject to official FIA confirmation.
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