Paddon laughs off bad luck in Finland
The frustration in Finland continued right until the end for Hayden Paddon.
After retiring due to hitting rocks and breaking a rear suspension on the previous two day, the Kiwi rally driver was eager to make the most of the final four stages of Rally Finland yesterday.
He demonstrated the top-five pace that he would have liked to have shown all weekend but a mechanical issue on the final stage saw him cross the finish line back in 12th place. Paddon then retired from the event.
‘‘It has been one of those weekends for us. After our retirements on Friday and Saturday, we wanted to approach these final stages in a positive manner and to get some time behind the wheel,’’ Paddon said.
‘‘This rally has perfectly illustrated our season, where anything that can go wrong does go wrong.
‘‘The power stage was another example, when the car unexpectedly went straight on at a third gear corner.
‘‘Still, we got to the end of the rally and I am sure, one day in the future, we will look back and laugh at our bad luck this year. I am sure we could have fought for the podium this weekend, and that is the positive that we will take away.’’
The news was better for Paddon’s Hyundai team-mate, Thierry Neuville, who took over the World Rally Championship lead, while Finnish rookie Esapekka Lappi took his first win on home soil.
The 26-year-old Toyota driver beat Britain’s Elfyn Evans, in an Msport Ford, by 36 seconds in only his fourth WRC start and despite damaging his rear-left wheel in the penultimate stage.
Finland’s Juho Hanninen was third, a mere 0.3 behind, in another Toyota.
Neuville finished sixth but ousted previous leader Sebastien Ogier, who crashed on day one and was unable to restart after codriver Julien Ingrassia suffered concussion and was signed off from competing for 15 days.
With three additional points from the power stage, the Belgian is now level with four times champion Ogier on 160 points but ahead 3-2 on race wins.
Paddon is now 109 points back in eighth place.