Hayden Paddon is taking positives from his debut in the Super 2000 class at the final round of the World Rally Championship, where he finished 13th overall and second in class.
Paddon's use of a new Subaru WRX STI R4 rally car in Wales Rally GB, highlighted the potential ofthe car.
"Certainly we got the set-up of the car a lot better on the final day ... and I was much happier with the handling and able to press on more," he said.
"We took a lot of information away from the event - for me, for Symtech and for Subaru, so everyone learned a great deal and the car has a lot of potential.
"We tried to have a good battle with Kevin Abbring in a Super 2000-spec Skoda Fabia, but lost time on the second stage when we went wide into a ditch."
Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, from Geraldine and Blenheim respectively, finished the event just 54s adrift of closest non-WRC rival Abbring and 3m 37s ahead of PWRC class winner Patrik Flodin from Sweden.
