Top-five finish from Hyundai
HYUNDAI Motorsport has concluded Rallye de France with two Hyundai i20 WRC cars inside the top seven after a strong final day, last Sunday.
Hayden Paddon was the highest placed Hyundai Motorsport driver in fifth place, two places ahead of Dani Sordo, who put in a stellar performance to take a stage win and move up into seventh place overall after a competitive Power Stage run.
Thierry Neuville brought his Hyundai i20 WRC home safely to register a rally finish, while Kevin Abbring, who had been chasing a top-five finish, was forced to retire in SS8 after an off-road excursion.
Scoring the fifth top-five finish of the season, Hayden Paddon (#20 Hyundai i20 WRC) has given his most accomplished tarmac performance to date with fifth overall. He set the third fastest time in this morning’s long stage, setting the same time as the eventual rally winner.
“We’ve made a good improvement in our tarmac driving technique this weekend. We still have things to improve but considering the conditions this weekend I’m happy with what we’ve achieved. We lost a lot of time on the damp first stage on Friday and were 15th overall, so I never expected to finish in the top five. This morning’s opening stages featured the same changeable conditions we’ve seen all weekend, so I had to drive accordingly. The long stage was tricky with three or four changes of rhythm but it’s been another valuable learning experience. The times were good and we were able to move into fifth, which is a satisfying result. It certainly gives us something solid on which to build for Spain,” said Paddon.