New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon and his co-driver John Kennard have clinched the European Rally Championship season-opening Rally Serras de Fafe after leader Mikko Heikkilä suffered a puncture on the final stage.
Just 2.8 seconds separated the pair heading into the second running of the 14.9km Lameirinha power stage.
It was a stage Paddon had success on earlier in the day when he finished second to former WRC competitor Craig Breen. That was the same order the second time around also, Breen taking the stage to finish sixth in the rally but Paddon’s second enough for him to take the crown.
It wasn’t to be for Heikkilä who was forced to replace his front left an agonizing 5km from the finish after having led by as much as 10 seconds early on in the day.
“I’m sorry for Heikkila,” said Paddon after the rally. “We wanted to try and overcome those 2.8 seconds fair and square. But we’re happy- very happy.”
Heikkilä tumbled down the order to finish eighth following his puncture.
“I have no idea [where the puncture came from],” Heikkilä explained. “It’s easy to have a puncture because there are so many stones out there, but I am happy with the tyres.
“Crying won’t help – it is what it is. I just want to say thanks to my team, they worked very well,” he added.
It was a similar fate for Breen, although his puncture happened in tricky conditions on the day prior to push him down the order to sit 20th overnight.
Chaotic and inconsistent conditions led to Day 1 being shortened with only seven of the nine stages run. Stage 7 was also cut short following an Armindo Araújo crash which required a visit to the hospital for observation.
Breen had been leading heading into that final stage but was put 20 spots down after his tyre required repairs. This made Heikkilä the overnight leader, ahead of Norwegian driver Mads Østberg in second and 4.2 seconds off the pace. Paddon was third and 13 seconds off Østberg and 17.2 off the lead.
A new day brought slightly better conditions, albeit slightly foggy early on. The Kiwi started strongly on SS10 to top the time sheets by just half a second, but making up good ground on Østberg.
Breen went on to top the next three stages despite sitting well outside contention. More importantly, Paddon continued to make up ground on his rivals to sit just 4.6 seconds off the lead and 1.7 behind Østberg after the first loop.
He eventually moved into second following the second crossing of the 9.97km Seixoso to trail Heikkilä by 3 seconds. He made just .2 of those back on the penultimate stage before the Finns misfortunes at the end of the day gave the Kiwi event honours.
Paddon was driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally 2 car prepared by Italian team BRC which he will use for seven of the eight ERC events.
The European Rally Championship returns over 5-6 May with Spain’s Rally Islas Canarias.
