Second in sight for Hyundai as Rally Sweden prepares for solitary Sunday stage

Hyundai Motorsport has extended its hold on second place in Rally Sweden, the second round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) as Hayden Paddon closed the gap on rally leader Sébastien Ogier throughout the day.

Five stages were held in increasingly snowy conditions today with the popular Vargåsen stage - including the spectacular Colin’s Crest - run twice. The day culminated with a Super Special Stage in Karlstad with just one stage remaining on Sunday morning.

Paddon (#4 New Generation i20 WRC), driving for the Hyundai Shell World Rally Team, started the day with a 26.9s deficit to the rally leader and made the most of his road position to cut that to 8.8 seconds after the first run of Vargåsen. However, with only the Power Stage left to contest, the Kiwi is intent on maintaining position and aiming for a podium finish on Sunday.

Paddon said: “We have to be happy with how today has gone and with our position at the end of this penultimate day. We made the most of our starting position this morning, with those running ahead of us helping to clean the road a bit. We just focused on our own thing and were able to close the gap. There wasn’t as much of an advantage in the stages that followed but we were still able to keep hold of second - and that is very much our target for tomorrow. We can’t necessarily fight for the win based on outright pace but a podium here would be a great result - and we have one stage left to make that happen.”

Sordo (#20 New Generation i20 WRC) was involved in a thrilling close battle for the podium heading into the morning loop but a puncture in the opening stage (SS10 Fredriksberg 18.19km) lost the Spaniard a minute of time. He still holds a strong top-six position and will aim to add more points to his 2016 championship tally after Sunday’s final stage.

Sordo said: “We started the day hopeful of being able to fight for the top-three but unfortunately, about four kilometres from the end of the opening stage, we had a puncture after hitting a rock on the line. That lost us a lot of time and put an end to us being part of the battle up front. Conditions were very tricky today and we weren’t able to find the confidence to attack. Still, we are in the top-six and we will now concentrate on securing this position.”

Neuville (#3 New Generation i20 WRC) recovered from transmission problems on Friday and started this morning’s stages looking to rebuild his rhythm. The Belgian had a solid day apart from a broken damper, which he sustained in the second Vargåsen stage.

Neuville commented: “We needed the opening stages this morning to rebuild our confidence in the conditions and in the New Generation i20 WRC after yesterday’s troubles. We weren’t in the fight for a meaningful result so we focused on getting a good feeling behind the wheel. We had a small misunderstanding with the pace notes on the first stage but after that it was an OK day. I was hoping to defend my record through Colin’s Crest and I thought we’d done enough with another 44-metre jump - but unfortunately it wasn’t the case. We will continue to do what we can to move up the overall classification but with only one stage tomorrow, we know it will be hard. ”

Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “We’ve had another day of mixed fortunes for our three drivers. Hayden has had another fantastic day, working very well to make the most of road position advantages to reduce the gap to the rally leader. Our focus is not on fighting for the win, although it has been good to see our New Generation i20 WRC again show its potential to be quickest on stage. We are aiming to defend second place, which will be a very good result for the team and, of course, for Hayden. Anything can happen, even with just one stage left, so we have to remain cautious. Dani is still inside the top-six despite his morning puncture. Thierry, meanwhile, has had a generally good run today, although he suffered a broken damper at the end of the second run through Vargåsen. Let’s hope for a trouble-free final stage tomorrow and – I hope – to see Hyundai Motorsport colours on the Rally Sweden podium again!”

Sunday’s solitary stage will be the 15.87km Värmullsåsen Power Stage at lunchtime with a second consecutive podium result up for grabs for Hyundai Motorsport.