Paddon holding third position in WRC Rally Australia
The leaderboard has switched around as WRC Rally Australia moved away from the flowing shire roads into some technical and tree-lined forest terrain for the fourth stage of the day.
Citroen driver Kris Meeke (GB) won the 29.51km Newry Long stage and moved ahead of Hyundai drivers Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon to lead the rally back to Friday’s mid-way service halt at Coffs Harbour.
Meeke won the stage with a 16m 56.7s effort with Sebastien Ogier clawing back some of the time lost this morning with second fastest time of 16m 57.1s.
Volkswagen drivers Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) and Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) were next and Paddon was fifth fastest at 17m 04.6s.
Meeke now leads the rally by 3.3secs from Sordo who lost time when he stalled at a junction in stage four.
Paddon returns to the service park holding third position, 7.0secs behind Meeke and with a 3.33s margin in hand over Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) who is leading VW Polo driver.
The afternoon itinerary repeats the same four stages as morning. With temperatures rising it’s expected drivers will choose the harder compound Michelin tyres this afternoon.