Motorsport: Paddon able to thrive in bad weather

Hayden Paddon in action on his most recent WRC outing in Mexico. Photo / @tWorld

Kiwis Hayden Paddon and John Kennard are seventh with one day to go in the Tour de Corse.

The FIA World Rally Championship's return to the French island of Corsica after seven years has been marred by severe weather conditions, forcing the cancellation Friday's special stage two and its repeat run as stage four on Saturday.

Jari-Matti Latvala has a two second lead over Elfyn Evans with Andreas Mikkelsen third, 30.8 seconds off the pace.

Paddon said it was a difficult start to the rally. "Although the weather cleared in time for the start, the extreme storm conditions overnight meant the first stage was very slippery and it was hard to get much confidence. I just adapted my driving accordingly to get the car to the end of the stage. That gave us a base on which to build."

With further downpours and limited experience on damp tarmac, he added: "In conditions like this, we just have treat it as a learning experience. So we were a bit slow to start with (with the 15th fastest time), but we're still here and we've got to keep learning for the weekend, and try and improve on this."

Despite a slow puncture and a big moment in the second stage (SS3) which was run in dry conditions, the Kiwi fared well to finish eighth.

"The afternoon stage, after the cancellation of SS2, started well but after one kilometre we hit a rock and damaged a wheel. We had a bad vibration after that and were very lucky later on when we were close to a sheer drop. It was a heart in the mouth moment, so I was just pleased to make it to the end of the day. We have more to learn here."