Hayden Paddon and Seb Marshall sit seventh overall at Rally Australia after the last of Friday’s six forest stages, having gone into the stage holding fifth – wear on the soft spec tyre during the 26.59km stage was the issue.
With a 37.4 second margin to rally leader Hyundai team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen after 110km of competition so far, Paddon is in right in the mix with two days of competition to go. The Kiwi is one place and 10 seconds ahead of 2017 World Champion Sébastien Ogier.
With two short early evening spectator stages still to run in Coffs Harbour (New South Wales) this evening, the two 1.27km sprints are unlikely to affect overnight positions significantly. The rally proper resumes just after 9am NZ time Saturday with the 49km long Nambucca stage which Paddon describes as his favourite stage of the entire World Rally Championship. There are around 218km of competition ahead during Saturday and Sunday.
Paddon’s stated goal for this final round of the FIA World Rally Championship is to relax, enjoy and let the results come, so the important thing from this weekend is for the Kiwi rally star to find some of the luck which has eluded him for much of this year.
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