Hayden Paddon left his European Rally Championship rivals for dead on the first full day of Rali Ceredigion, leading the event by a whopping 1m18.7s with title rival Mathieu Franceschi recovering from a poor start to be third overnight.
The Hyundai New Zealand driver topped Friday’s qualifying stage by an impressive 1.8s – earning him the preferred place of first on the road for Saturday’s leg – and then won both of the Aberystywth street stages in the evening to carry a 1.3s lead into the first proper day of action.
Although Paddon was bested by fellow Hyundai i20 N Rally2 pilot James Williams on the opening Brechfa test, he was awesome on the succeeding Llyn Brianne and Nant y Moch stages – winning the former by 9.9s and the latter by 4.8s – to vault into a 31.9s lead at mid-day service.
Making the most of his earned starting position of first, Paddon’s rhythm was relentless as he reeled off three more stage wins in the moorlands, and again won both passes of the Aberystwyth street stage, to set himself up for a first ERC victory of the year at a decisive point of the championship.
“It’s been a pretty good day, there’s no doubt about that,” Paddon said, “but the position we’re in is actually not so enjoyable because we have to look after it, we’re just trying to keep it on the road.
“I’m counting down the stages now.”
Franceschi had been as low as seventh as he generally struggled for ultimate confidence, but a better afternoon – coupled to drama for Simone Tempestini who suffered a broken spigot joint – allowed him to climb to third.
“For sure I’m disappointed not to have more speed, but Hayden is a WRC driver with so much experience,” Franceschi surmised.
“It’s only my second year out of France, so I think in my head I need to stay focused.”
Behind the dominant Paddon, 2019 ERC champion Chris Ingram has found himself a comfortable second in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, 8.7s ahead of Franceschi who, in turn, has just 2.4s in hand over fourth-placed Mikołaj Marczyk.
Keith Cronin had been third before the two street stages but fell to fifth after them – exemplifying how close it was – as the Irishman admitted to being careful after overcooking a compression and smacking into a bag on gravel on the Aberystwyth test on Friday evening.
Andrea Mabellini is sixth ahead of fellow Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 driver Callum Devine, and two-time Rali Ceredigion winner Osian Pryce.
Jon Armstrong was second fastest to Paddon on all three of the moorland stages in the afternoon, but a puncture in the morning prevented the M-Sport driver from fighting for the podium places.
He’s ninth overall, just a tenth down on Pryce, with Matt Edwards completing the top 10.
Local driver Williams was the only one to beat Paddon to a stage win all day, setting the pace on SS3 by an impressive 4.2s. But just a mile onto the very next stage he crashed his Hyundai and retired from the event.
Rali Ceredigion is also a round of the British Rally Championship, which splits the event into two points-scoring rounds.
Ingram therefore claimed maximum BRC points to take the championship lead from reigning Junior WRC champion William Creighton who had an awful day – puncturing on both passes of the Brechfa stage and spinning off on Llyn Brianne 1, losing three minutes as spectators helped push his Ford Fiesta Rally2 out of a bog.
