Photo Credit: Hyundai Motorsport New Zealander Hayden Paddon was the star of the show on the 2016 Rally Argentina as he took both his and the new-generation Hyundai i20 WRC's first WRC victory. It was also the first victory for any driver from New Zealand in the history of the WRC. Volkswagen had the chance to go 13 rallies unbeaten after equaling their previous record of 12, but Paddon brilliantly denied them the chance of making history, and instead made some of his own. Just like in 2015 with Kris Meeke, Argentina provided us with a debut winner. From the get go there were three drivers who started to streak away; Paddon, Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala. Ogier was gunning to finally break his Argentina winning duck, and cut a frustrated figure all weekend as he had to deal with sweeping the roads for the ensuing pack. Latvala and Paddon profited with lower starting positions, but it was the Finn who was in control, right up until the end of day 2 where his Polo hit a rock, the suspension was ruined and Latvala was powerless as his car rolled over several times and out of contention. That left Hayden Paddon as the overnight leader by 30 seconds from the charging Frenchman. Ogier chopped 7 seconds off the Hyundai's advantage on Sunday's opener, before taking a massive bite out of Paddon's lead to go into the event closing Power Stage just 2 seconds behind. The Kiwi spectacularly held his nerve however and took 11 seconds back from Ogier to take one of the most deserved wins ever in the WRC. Andreas Mikkelsen completed the podium after a fairly quiet rally in his Polo R. Photo Credit: Volkswagen Motorsport Dani Sordo put in another solid performance to come home fourth, and finished as the lead points scoring Hyundai. May they be regretting not selecting Paddon in the main team for the South American event?
Mads Ostberg was a distant fifth, as he struggled to match the front runners for pace, but he kept it out of trouble. Despite finishing 4 minutes from Paddon, he still seemed to be enjoying himself. His team mate Eric Camilli also had a decent event, as he picked up his first finish and points in the WRC. Thierry Neuville was low on confidence after he crashed twice last month in Mexico. The Belgian had another disappointing event on round 4 but this time it wasn't his fault. He lost 6 minutes on the first day as his i20 suffered with electrical issues. However, over on the other side of the garage, there was one very happy Kiwi, who has now moved up to 2nd place in the world championship. The next event in the WRC is Rally Portugal in May, where we will see the return of the Citroens.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
WRCArticles covering the World Rally Championship Archives
January 2018
Categories |