Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard remain on top of the European Rally Championship having finished second at Tet Rally Liepāja over the weekend. The Kiwi, driving BRC Racing Team’s Hyundai i20 N Rally2, was never far from the front, finishing 41.4 seconds off the pace of hometown hero Mārtiṇš Sesks.
Sesks’s victory makes it two in a row for the Latvian driver, who closes to within 30 points to Hayden Paddon on the ERC standings.
Driving Sports Racing Technologies-run Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, Sesks had entered the second day with a 28.3 second lead over the Kiwi, making good ground on the rally-opening first run of Tukums. High levels of dust created a tricky surface for drivers, ultimately resulting in the cancellation of the following SS2 over the same run.
Paddon dropped 21.9 seconds on his rival due to the conditions, a time he was ultimately never able to make back.
Sesks would go on to top the next three special stages, before dropping a small amount of time on the super special stage run over the Liepaja City Stage.
On Sunday he resumed where he left off, taking two further stage wins to enter the penultimate stage with a 34 second lead over Paddon.
Paddon would go on to lose a further nine seconds on the lead on SS9, before falling short on the final power stage by 0.001 seconds.
Norwegian Mads Østberg rounded out the podium places, some 23 seconds off the pace of Paddon having lost time with a stall on the final stage of Day 1.
“We wanted to get full points from this, all in all, a good weekend, but there is more to come,” said the Kiwi following the rally. “Big thanks to the team, first half of the season done! Let’s get it done for the second half.”
The European Rally Championship will return with the Royal Rally of Scandinavia on July 7-8.
Header Image: ERC
