Hayden Paddon and John Kennard finished fourth in Rally Hungary, suffering a puncture on the final stage, which dropped them out of the top two.
Driving BRC Racing’s Hyundai i20N Rally2, Paddon sat second entering the final 18.5km Nagyloter Power Stage, 7.7 seconds behind lead Simone Tempestini, but suffered damage to his left front to limp home 50.9 seconds behind stage winner Mathieu Franceschi.
Franceschi’s stage victory elevated him to second on the overall standings, 17 seconds behind winner Tempestini. Miklos Csmomos also got the jump over the Kiwi to complete the podium. Paddon finished 44.5 seconds behind the winner.
The defending champion began his title defence with third on Friday’s 2.05km Kiralyszentisvan Super Special Stage, just 0.8 seconds behind leader Erik Cais.
He placed in the top eight in all six of Saturday’s stages and was fourth entering the final day. Mikko Heikkila held a 2.3-second advantage over 2023 runner-up Martins Sesks, while Tempestini climbed to third.
Paddon began Sunday’s action with top-three finishes over the first three passes and moved to third after Heikkila dropped out of the lead on SS10 with a mechanical failure.
Sesks then crashed out first place on the penultimate stage, handing the lead to Tempestini from Paddon and Franceschi, respectively.
Disaster struck for the Kiwi on the final run, which relegated him down the order.
“Half the stage [we drove on it], nothing happened, just in the middle of the road,” he said afterwards. “We didn’t touch anything.
“We still got some points, so there’s a silver lining.”
The European Rally Championship resumes on May 3-5 with Rally Islas Canarias on the Canary Islands, where Paddon finished as runner-up in 2023.
Header Image: European Rally Championship
