The Geraldine rally driver Hayden Paddon and his co-driver John Kennard are eighth on the leaderboard after the first full day of racing in the Rally of Germany.
Hayden Paddon on Rally Germany, 2015. Photo: Vettas Media
Seventh quickest through the day's opening stage, Paddon dropped to ninth, then quickly regained a place to hold eighth overall for the day's remaining six stages.
On unfamiliar tarmac conditions, Paddon said he was happy enough with his place.
"We're a bit closer to our team-mates than what we were expecting so this is a positive. But obviously there's a lot of things to learn, a lot of things to take in and we changing things as we go to try and improve.
"We knew heading into this rally that we would have to use it as a learning experience and to build our confidence on tarmac, a terrain with which I am not as familiar as gravel. It's not been a bad first day and we are perhaps closer to Thierry (Neuville 5th) and Dani (Sordo 4th) than we expected."
"It's a bitter pill after we've been competing for top-fives in recent rallies but we'll persevere and see what tomorrow brings," said Paddon.
After eight stages, the Frenchman Sebastien Ogier was leading Rally Germany, 1 minute 31 seconds ahead of Paddon.
