Paddon takes the lead at Rally Italia Sardegna

Friday, June 12

Alghero (Italy), June 12, 2015. Rally Italia Sardegna, sixth round of the World Rally Championship, restarted today after yestarday's evening Super Special Stage in Cagliari, won by Czeck Martin Prokop on Ford Fiesta RS WRC. On Friday morning Kiwi Hayden Paddon soon jumped into the lead being fastest all the three opening test on the Hyundai i20 WRC he shares with co-driver John Kennard. Following special stage 5 was won by reigning world champion Sebastian Ogier on works Volkswagen Polo R WRC, who was fastest than his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala by only one tenth. In the overall standings ahead of the upcoming service, Latvala is second behind Paddon, who leads the Finn by 23'0 and Ogier by 25"1. Fourth and fifth are Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville on the other i20's, while the first M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC is sixth thanks to Ott Tanak. Overnight leader Prokop is in seventh position and Mads Ostberg, who had a puncture during SS4, follows him with the first Citroen DS3 WRC. Ninth is WRC2 leader Paolo Andreucci on the Peugeot 208 T16 R5. Eight-time Italian world champion leads Esapekka Lappi's Skoda Fabia R5 by 3"8 seconds.

Stages was confirmed as very tough, as many retirements still are on the list. Kris Meeke (Citroen) during SS2, Robert Kubica (Ford) during SS3 and Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) during SS4, all of them damaged their cars off road. In the afternoon, crews will go for the second loop on Sagama (2.8 km), Grighine Sud (22.45 km), Grighine Nord (18.34 km) and Montiferru (14.41 km). Also they will pass on the Sinis Mont'e Prama test (14.08 km) to complete the first leg at 21:35 hrs in Alghero Service Park.