Motorsport: Paddon third in PWRC Argentina

Hayden Paddon doing the hard yards in Argentina's PWRC round. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon sits in third place in the production world rally championship (PWRC) field after the short first stage of the Rally of Argentina.

Geraldine's Paddon raced around the 3.02km special stage on the streets of Carlos Paz in two minutes 39.3 seconds to finish the stage 15th overall, 13.4 seconds behind world rally championship leader Frenchman Sebastien Loeb.

Paddon and co-driver John Kennard start the three-day 378km rally properly later today and lie second on the overall PWRC standings after winning the Rally of Portugal in March.

They tackle six stages on Friday - three stages repeated twice, eight stages on Saturday and four on Sunday.

Paddon said the roads around Cordoba would prove challenging for drivers.

"It is hard to measure this against other rallies as the roads are quite unique. The road we used for testing was similar to the rougher sections of the rally and it was rough.

On such a road it is hard to get the perfect set-up, but we got the car much more comfortable and easier to drive which is even more crucial for this event as it will also be vital to look after the car on the rough sections," Paddon said.

- NZPA