Hayden Paddon showed off the potential of the Korean manufacturer’s latest machine as a Volkswagen beater in a hotly contested Rally Sweden that almost didn’t happen.
The three-time defending WRC champion Sebastien Ogier had to work hard to make it two wins out of two to start the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship season, particularly on Saturday when as the lead car he had the unenviable task of sweeping the fresh snow on the stages.
The Frenchman opened the road for more than 90 per cent of the shortened rally, and had to sweep 10cm fresh snow on Saturday to leave a cleaner and faster line for Paddon, who started lower down the running order.
The event was briefly in jeopardy with no snow in order to run the event as a snow rally. The organisers, however, assured the WRC field that snow had been forecast and it came in spades.
The cost of repairing roads damaged by crews using studded tyres on gravel, allied to safety concerns over competitors driving on patchy ice with tyres which had lost their studs, meant a weather-enforced cancellation looked likely for only the second time in the event’s history.
However, freezing temperatures and up to 10cm of snow saved the rally after organisers delayed the recce for 24 hours and cancelled eight special stages.
Ten centimeters of snow and temperatures as low as -10 degrees celsius ensured that the event would proceed and a battle broke out between Ogier and Paddon.
Paddon’s second place finish was the first podium by a non-European driver at Rally Sweden. The finish was in jeopardy, however, as Paddon hit a wooden post close to the finish of the last stage of the rally.
A broken radiator was the result but Paddon and co-driver John Kennard were able to fix the fluid leak. The hole was repaired and Paddon made it to the finish podium 90km away in Karlstad, topping up the cooling system with water from a champagne bottle. The result moved him fourth equal in the drivers’ championship and also marked the second consecutive podium for Hyundai who are now just five points off manufacturers’ leaders Volkswagen.
Paddon was followed home by Mads Ostberg in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC and Volkswagen’s Andreas Mikkelsen.
The Norwegian hoped to take advantage of better road conditions to close in on the third place he ceded to Mads Østberg in the previous Vargåsen test. However, an over-ambitious note near the finish cost the Volkswagen Polo R driver dear.
The 28-year-old Ostberg has had plenty to acclimatise to this season, with Fløene replacing long-term partner Jonas Andersson in the right-hand seat and digesting pace notes in his own language for the first time in seven years.
The next round of the WRC will be Rally Mexico, which is headquartered in Guanajuato and will be held from March 4 to 6. It will be the first gravel rally of the year and the first time having gravel as a surface will be expected!
Ogier won his third straight rally here last year and with less unpredictability in the mix, it is looking hard to bet against him as a winner again.
Nonetheless, Paddon can point to problems of his own in Sweden and take heart in the fact that he was at least able to keep Ogier honest for so long throughout the event. Hyundai will be hoping for clean running for him as well as Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo in order to claim a healthy haul of manufacturers’ points. Or at the very least ensure that Ford stays firmly out of the picture with Ostberg unable to grab a podium place from their factory outfit.
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