Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon has finished second at Rally Poland after surviving the short final day in tricky conditions and helped get his 2017 season back on track.
The Hyundai driver recorded his first podium of the season and even moved up a spot from third overnight after M-SportFord driver Ott Tanak crashed early on the final morning.
Paddon's Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville picked up his third win of the season and closed the gap to world championship leader Sebastien Ogier to 11 points.
The Belgian cruised to victory after Tanak's crash while Paddon took no risks and eased his way through the final four stages to finish 1:23.9s behind Neuville.
It was the first career podium for his British co-driver Seb Marshall on their third outing together.
Ogier had an excursion off the road and into a paddock on the final day but did enough to finish third.
Toyota's Jari-Matti Latvala, who was in the fight for the lead earlier in the event, won the power stage while Ogier minimized the damage by collecting four bonus points to Neuville's one.
Paddon is up to seventh in the championship standings while his Hyundai team has reduced the M-Sport Ford lead in the manufacturer's championship to 22.
The next event is Rally Finland at the end of the month.
