1 Aug 2016

Paddon fifth overall in Finland

7:10 am on 1 August 2016

Hayden Paddon and John Kennard set the second-fastest stage time on each of the four final stages of Rally Finland this morning to secure fifth place overall.

Hayden Paddon airborne in Finland.

Hayden Paddon airborne in Finland. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

They finished just 2.3 seconds behind Hyundai Motorsport team-mate Thierry Neuville.

Looking at the combined times for the day's final 34.20km of competition, the New Zealanders were the fastest crew and were pleased to take two bonus points for second in the power stage.

Both Paddon and Neuville benefited from Ott Tanak crashing out of the rally.

With victory going to Kris Meeke and Jari-Matti Latvala taking second, the resultant championship points puts Paddon into fourth place on the WRC drivers' championship leader-board with 84 points.

Paddon said while it had been a challenging weekend there were some positives to take away.

"We didn't take any massive risks and concentrated on getting the cars home. With that in mind, to take 1-2 in the Power Stage was a nice consolation. We gave it our all but we've struggled with the car in the slippery conditions. It was a close fight with Thierry and I've really enjoyed these fantastic stages."