Hayden Paddon and John Kennard lead Rally Silesia after Saturday’s seven stages by 6.8 seconds from Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi, but more importantly, the Kiwi’s only title rival, Mathieu Franceschi and Andy Malfoy is 42.3 seconds away in fifth position overall.
Paddon won four of the stages while still driving his Hyundai i20 N Rally 2 well within his and the car’s capabilities.
“Being clean and precise is probably the key,” said the New Zealander, who set the quickest pace on five of Saturday’s seven asphalt stages. “I think when you start pushing you start over-driving and losing time. Obviously, we’re carrying extra weight with the extra tyres, there’s more in it but we’re quite comfortable doing what we’re doing at the moment.”
Franceschi’s strategy didn’t work as planned as he struggled for grip in the cooler morning struggled with his Skoda Fabia’s handling in the morning loop.
Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi are chasing their maiden ERC win in Poland and will be looking to up their pace on Sunday’s final leg of the season having claimed their maiden podium last time out…
First round winner Simone Tempestini/Sergiu Itu are holding fourth ahead of the double Polish champion Miko Marczyk/Szymon Gospodarczyk.
