Paddon slips and slides in the wet conditions
New Zealand's Hayden Paddon had a solid opening leg of WRC Rally Poland to be fifth at the end of a wet first day.
The Hyundai works driver was hoping for dry conditions, where he could have made the most of his position of eighth on the road, but heavy rain turned that position into a disadvantage as the road cut up and became more slippery for the latter runners.
The bad luck continues in a season where he just can't seem to take a trick.
He took it easy and safely negotiated trying conditions to be 39.6s off the lead, held by team-mate Thierry Neuville.
“Yes, we're happy enough with our day,” Paddon said. “It was always going to be trying with the wet, muddy conditions — our road position was always going to be a bit of a disadvantage, especially on the morning loop.
“We struggled a bit, and just did all we could and kept the car on the road. It was very, very slippery.
“Then in the afternoon, we knew it was going to be more even. We made some set-up changes to the car which helped me to gain a bit of confidence and we were much more competitive. So we can be content with that.
“To be in the top five and not far off fourth and maybe see what the guys up front do, a podium possible this weekend.
“Looking forward to conditions [today] and is still
improving should be more enjoyable to drive. Mission accomplished for [yesterday] and now [today] is a whole new game. We'll try and lift it up a bit and climb the leaderboard.”
Belgian Neuville held a narrow 1.3s lead over M-Sport Ford driver Ott Tanak. Toyota's Jari-Matti Latvala was only 6.6s off the lead, making it a three-way fight at the front.
Four-time world champion and series leader Sebastien Ogier was fourth 35.1s off the pace, while Paddon was chipping away at Ogier and was only 4.5s further back.
Toyota's Esapekki Lappi was the only major casualty of the day, who retired with damaged suspension sustained when he cut a corner.
Other drivers to run into problems were Citroen pair Andreas Mikkelsen and Craig Breen, as well as DMACK Ford driver Elfyn Evans, although all three were still running.