Hayden Paddon has climbed to second in the European Rally Championship standings after finishing sixth at Rally Islas Canaria.
The Kiwi and co-driver John Kennard entered the final day of the tarmac rally in third in BRC Racing’s Hyundai i3oN Rally 2 but battled an understeer issue over the six stages.
Despite that, he finished only 40.9 seconds behind winner Yoann Bonato, who claimed his second consecutive Rally Islas Canarias victory.
“This weekend has been massively competitive,” Paddon said after the final stage. “It’s possibly one of the most competitive I’ve ever done.
“Not the result we wanted, but not for the lack of trying. Hats off to the Spanish guys, we haven’t had a bad weekend but if you look at the results it looks bad. It’s a credit to the championship.”
French driver Mathieu Franceschi finished second overall, just 2.8 seconds behind his compatriot, backing up his second-place result at the season-opening Rally Hungary.
As a result, Franceschi takes the European Rally Championship lead after two of eight rounds, of which each driver’s best seven count in the championship standings.
Paddon began his day by going sixth fastest on the 9.41km Firgas stage before losing ground and time on the two French drivers on SS9, a 27.7km pass from Moya to Valleseco. He finished ninth, dropping 12 seconds to Bonato and 10 to Franceschi.
After the first pass on the 11.5 km San Mateo-Valsequillo, the Kiwi remained third in the standings but 22 seconds adrift of the lead pair.
Ninth place on the second pass of Firgas dropped Paddon to fifth overall, and he lost a further place on SS12 to enter the Power Stage in sixth.
The defending champions secured an additional championship point on the Power Stage with a fifth to finish the weekend sixth, 11 seconds off the podium.
The European Rally Championship returns to Paddon’s favoured gravel surfaces over the next two events, beginning with the Royal Rally of Scandinavia on June 13-16.
Header Image: European Rally Championship
