The New Zealand driver Hayden Paddon has finished fourth in Rally Italy in Sardinia.
New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon Photo: © Marcin Rybak: Rallyart Photo 2018
It's his best result this year and it's also his highest finish in Sardinia since he scored a then career-best second place in 2015.
Paddon had hoped for more but that things hadn't clicked as he'd hoped this weekend.
Importantly, Paddon put together a clean run to finish the event and now takes confidence from a strong result to push on for the rest of the season.
"A difficult weekend for us, but a positive end to the rally for the team." says Paddon
"We wanted more from this rally, but to take fourth place gives us important confidence for the coming events.
"it's nice to finish this event for the first time in three years, and to score important points for the team in the manufacturers' championship."
The result moves Paddon from 15th in the WRC drivers' championship to 13th.
He and co-driver Seb Marshall continue their WRC campaign at the next round at Rally Finland at the end of July.
His Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville extended his lead in the WRC after beating Ford rival Sebastien Ogier by a fraction of a second in a nail-biting finalein Sardinia.
The Belgian went into the final 6.96km stage of the Italian event with eight tenths to make up on the reigning champion, who had started the day 3.9 seconds clear, and emerged triumphant with an advantage of 0.7.
The winning margin, after 313.46km of competitive stages over the dusty, rocky tracks of the Mediterranean island, was the third smallest in the 45-year history of the world championship.
Finnish driver Espekka Lappi finished third for Toyota.
Neuville now has a 27 point lead over Ogier after seven of 13 rounds.
Hyundai are also leading the manufacturers' standings, 28 points clear of M-Sport Ford.
- Reuters
