The final round of the ERC season is being held this weekend in Poland. New Zealander Paddon holds a commanding lead in the ERC standings, and a solid performance on the tarmac at the Rally Silesia should be enough for him to retain his crown.
Paddon has had an excellent start to the event. After four stages, he leads the rally by just one second ahead of Italian Andrea Mabellini. Paddon’s only title rival, Frenchman Mathieu Franceschi, is down in sixth place, almost half a minute behind the leader.
Paddon has approached the rally cautiously but still managed to set two fastest times during Saturday morning’s loop.
“I’m not putting a year’s hard work behind us in the fight for a rally win. We’re just playing it safe,” Paddon commented after the morning stages.
“It is tricky conditions though; you need some margin in these conditions.”
Polish driver Mikolaj Marczyk is currently in third place, ahead of his compatriot Grzegorz Grzyb. Simone Tempestini rounds out the top five, with Franceschi in sixth.
Four more stages will be run on Saturday in the Polish ERC round. The rally will conclude on Sunday.
Rally Silesia standings after SS4/14:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai | 28:46.8 |
| 2. | Andrea Mabellini | Skoda | +1.0 |
| 3. | Mikolaj Marczyk | Skoda | +18.0 |
| 4. | Grzegorz Grzyb | Skoda | +19.3 |
| 5. | Simone Tempestini | Skoda | +19.6 |
| 6. | Mathieu Franceschi | Skoda | +26.9 |
| 7. | Lukasz Byskiniewicz | Skoda | +36.2 |
| 8. | Jaroslaw Szeja | Skoda | +38.5 |
| 8. | Zbigniew Gabrys | Skoda | +38.5 |
| 10. | Yoann Bonato | Citroen | +38.7 |
