Hayden Paddon has built on his overnight WRC2 Rally New Zealand lead this morning, two stage victories to his name after SS10, the third stage of the day, was abandoned after a Gus Greensmith rollover at speed.
He now is a full 1:38 ahead of Katetan Kajetanowicz, Shane van Gisbergen rounding out the top three 2:10.8 back, the rainy conditions and deteriorating stage surfaces
After yesterday’s monster shunt, Ben Hunt returned to action, although now well outside contention.
In the WRC, Kalle Rovanpera has taken the lead of the rally despite being awarded a 5-second penalty overnight for exceeding the permitted level of hybrid boost on Thursday at the Auckland Domain.
Ott Tanak, who also received the same penalty, sits 4.6 seconds back in second, Sebastien Ogier in third.
Elfyn Evans is the best of the Brits despite a spin and contact with an embankment on SS9 at Puhoi bringing serious damage to the car, Evans left sourcing water from a road-side drainage ditch post-stage in an aim to fix a damaged radiator.
The crash came about on a medium-long right hander, over-steer the culprit as he went into the inside embankment before spinning and resuming, a time loss of 36.5 seconds over stage-winner Rovanpera the least of his concern after major front and rear damage sustained.
Despite the loss, Evans still sits fourth overall at the mid-point of Day 3, losing his overnight lead to Rovanpara after the incident.
Luck was on the side of Evans, however, after SS10 at Komokoriki was abandoned after a massive Greensmith crash early in the stage saw the stage abandoned before their run. This gives the team an opportunity to work on the car ahead of this afternoons SS11.
Under-steer was the culprit in the Greensmith accident, a short left-hander seeing the rear of his car slide into a drainage ditch on the corner exit, the car rolling as a result.
The car was left with serious damage despite landing upright, blocking half of the road and triggering an early red flag. Thankfully, both drivers emerged unharmed from the incident.
Craig Breen has been the driver on form this morning, yesterdays abandonment due to clutch damage from an off seeing him well outside of overall contention.
The Irishman has two stage victories to his credit, including SS10 where he was one of the few competitors to finish. He also came in second on SS9, only behind Rovanpara.
Now on a lunch break, the rally will resume with SS11, the second passing on the Kaipara Hills, at 2pm, live on Spark Sport.
Banner Image: Hayden Paddon (Facebook)
