Paddon fastest at Argentina shakedown

Haydon Paddon set the pace at Thursday morning’s shakedown at YPF Rally Argentina when he topped the times by more than a second in his Hyundai i20.

The Kiwi set the benchmark on his third run through the 6.01km gravel test from Vila Carlos Paz to Cabalango, stopping the clock 1.3sec clear of Jari-Matti Latvala’s Volkswagen Polo R. Sebastien Ogier was third, a further 0.7sec back.

“Shakedown wasn’t that representative of a lot of the rally. It’s quite a slow stage and much of the rally is very fast,” said Paddon. “The surface was similar but it’s difficult to gauge what the car is like in the fast sections until we get in there tomorrow.

“It’s very, very fast and you need to be really committed to the pace notes and carry a lot of speed in the fifth and sixth gear corners. The surface seems reasonably hard-packed at the moment, but I think we’ll find in the second pass it’s going to chew up after all the rain they’ve had here and it will become like train tracks with the ruts.”

Team-mate Dani Sordo was fourth, with Andreas Mikkelsen placing his Polo R fifth and Thierry Neuville rounding off the top six in another i20. All set their fastest time in their third and final pass through the test, Neuville having been delayed by a throttle sensor problem in his first run.

Top 10 shakedown times

1 Paddon Hyundai i20 4m02.9s
2 Latvala VW Polo R 4m04.2s
3 Ogier VW Polo R 4m04.9s
4 Sordo Hyundai i20 4m05.9s
5 Mikkelsen VW Polo R 4m06.8s
6 Neuville Hyundai i20 4m07.6s
7 Tanak Ford Fiesta RS 4m08.0s
8 Ostberg Ford Fiesta RS 4m09.3s
9 Ligato DS 3 4m12.2s
10 H. Solberg Ford Fiesta RS 4m13.5s