SS2 – Paddon leads after tough first stage

Friday sees the first full stages of this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal, and the first stage of the day is already testing the skills of the cars and drivers. Loose, sandy sections combined with gravel and increasingly exposed rocky areas have ensured that the stage is different each time a car passes through it.

Current champion, M-Sport’s Sebastien Ogier, was first on the road and while he seemed happy at the end of the stage, there was no doubt that road position was an issue. This was reflected in his pace, which was 7th fastest with a time of 15.49.9s.

Hyundai Motorsport’s Hayden Paddon was the 8th driver to tackle the stage and it was clearly a road position that worked for him. Despite the rough conditions, he powered ahead and completed the stage in the fastest time, an impressive 15.44.3s over the 26.7km course.

Just one second behind was Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT’s Jari Matti Latvala, while Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT’s Kris Meek completed the stage in third, claiming that his car felt good and as such, “happy cars mean happy drivers.”

In WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen was fastest, bringing his Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5 over the line in 16.20.6s. Teemu Suninen pushed hard, but he was no match for the former WRC driver. In the end, Suninen was second fasted in WRC2 with a time of 16.35.1s, some 14.5s of Mikkelsen’s impressive pace.