Hayden Paddon has set the WRC2 benchmark early in Auckland this evening, topping the class and finishing 10th overall on damp tarmac through the Auckland Domain.
It was Supercars championship leader Shane van Gisbergen who claimed second in the class, the tarmac suiting the Kiwi’s expertise before the field hits the gravels near Raglan tomorrow.
With the course quickly drying as fresh rubber was laid, Paddon could perhaps be surprised being on top after the stage, being the first runner not long after a shower had passed.
“It’s a shame about the moisture, it made it really shiny and slippery,” he said in his WRC post-stage interview.
“I’m sure it will dry off but it’s a good way to start the rally and I can’t wait until tomorrow.
“It’s awesome to see so many people here, and this is just the start. Tomorrow we’re expecting to see a lot of people out on the stage as well.”
Van Gisbergen hinted the tarmac may have been to his advantage, recognising the gravel tomorrow will challenge his abilities.
“Tomorrow I’ll be taking it pretty easy,” he said after his run.
“But that was a whole lot of fun. It’s cool to see so many people out there, it’s awesome”
Paddon’s blistering 1.52.4 was 1.8 seconds better than that of van Gisbergen’s, although slightly more impacted by a slick yet drying surface from the earlier rain.
The three roundabouts on the course challenged several of the other competitors, including local driver Raana Horan who struggled with grip into his first donut and over-rotated.
Despite his hiccup at the first roundabout, Horan finished strongly and would have been up the leaderboard should the run have been clean. His pace, however, shows he should be one to watch over the weekend.
“I just had a bit of trouble sorting the grip out at the first braking mark and over-rotated,” he said after the stage.
“Once I got it sussed [however], I was away. I got no damage so I’m happy.”
Horan sits eighth in WRC2 heading into the full three days of racing, 9.7 seconds off Paddon.
As the track continue to dry as rubber was laid, the later-running WRC cars set some quality times, Ott Tanak keeping his slim championship chances alive by claiming the stage to take a .09 second lead over Craig Breen into the full day of rallying tomorrow.
Championship leader Kalle Rovenpara was another caught out at the first roundabout, a miscalculation seeing him only complete 1.75 of the required 2.75 turns and start to shoot off before returning for the final spin.
Rovenpara, who can this weekend become the youngest-ever WRC champion, sacrificed 2.6 seconds to nearest rival Tanak from his slight error, a small time to make up with three full days of racing ahead.
Kiwi Ben Hunt was another also impacted by the roundabouts, running wide in his first donuts before tightening things up to come home ninth.
Hunt, however, is thrilled at the opportunity to race in WRC2 in front of a home crowd, which he discussed in his post-race interview.
“It’s fantastic to see everyone out here supporting,” he said.
“It’s been 10 years since we had WRC here. PJ and the team at Rally New Zealand worked really hard to get this done so it’s really awesome to see everyone supporting it.”
“This is a bit of a demo stage for the crowd, we’re looking forward to getting on the gravel.”
Three other Kiwi’s also took part in the stage in WRC2, Andy Martin coming home in tenth ahead of Kingsley Jones and Todd Bawden.
Special stages are frequent throughout WRC, notorious for throwing up different surfaces to the rest of the rally and to provide supporters with a unique experience of an up-close and thrilling experience.
In this case, the field ran gravel-spec cars over the asphalt of Auckland Domain roads before they head south to the gravel of Raglan tomorrow.
Whilst Paddon takes a slim lead into the next three full days of racing, a lot can change as the cars hit the surfaces they are set up for.
Velocity News will have updates on Rally New Zealand throughout the weekend.
For everything you need to know about Rally New Zealand, see here.
Banner Image: Hayden Paddon (Facebook)
