Hayden Paddon continued his impressive start in the 2022 Secto Rally Finland moving up to fourth overall in the WRC2 category at the end of Saturday’s Special Stages.
“Another solid day in the bag and loving these magic roads,” commented Paddon. “This morning we were able to make some good improvements with top three times and spilts.
“This afternoon we have struggled in the rougher sections and trying to look after the car. Never the less, up to P4 and less than 15 seconds from podium. We have stuck to our plan and will continue to do so.”
Teemu Suninen continued to lead the category by nearly 20 seconds after dominating the opening leg. However, his advantage almost halved in Saturday’s opener when a mysterious issue left his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 down on power. That issue was quickly cured and from that moment onwards he and Lindholm were evenly matched, each claiming four fastest times in changeable conditions.
A faulty starter motor meant Lindholm had to jump-start his Škoda Fabia Rally2 several times, but it didn’t affect his speed on the stages and the 26-year-old ended the day just 10.7sec behind as well as top WRC2 Junior.
Sunday’s finale has been tweaked from last year, with Oittila’s (10.84km) flowing roads and Ruuhimäki’s (11.12km) big jumps taking centre stage. Ruuhimäki’s second pass forms the bonus-points paying Wolf Power Stage. Driven unchanged from 2021, Sundays Wolf Power Stage in Ruuhimäki has fast and wide roads with the famous roller-coaster jumps near the end leading into a stadium section and a monster leap across the finish.
WRC2 Secto Rally Finland Results Day 2 – Top 5
1/ Suninen Teemu – Markkula Mikko, Hyundai i20 N Rally2 2:10:40.8
2/ Lindholm Emil – Hämäläinen Reeta, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo +10.7
3/ Kaur Egon – Simm Silver, Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 +1:39.7
4/ Paddon Hayden – Kennard John, Hyundai i20 N Rally2 +1:53.2
5/ Asunmaa Teemu – Mannisenmäki Ville, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo +3:54.9
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