2 Oct 2016

Paddon 6th after day 1 in Corsica

12:44 pm on 2 October 2016

New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon is in sixth position after day two at the Rally of France in Corsica.

Hayden Paddon on the Tour de Corse, 2016.

Hayden Paddon on the Tour de Corse, 2016. Photo: Timo Anis

Paddon and co-driver John Kennard had two eighth, one seventh and one sixth place finish on today's four stages.

The pair remain on course for a top-six result despite struggling to find pace on today's stages with rain affecting the day's final 30.80km special stage.

The New Zealand crew were honest in their assessment of a tough day.

"I'm not going to hide away from the fact that it's not been the best of days for us. Our times in the morning loop were not so good. We used the long regroup and service at lunchtime to understand where we could improve," Paddon said.

"It's not been easy to put our finger on the reason why we've been struggling. We've tried a variety of things inside the car to get more speed. The weather played its part in the afternoon. As we're not in the battle up front, we decided to cross over tyres in the final stage. That changed the balance of the car but we have to try these things.

"We've made it safely to the end of the day, so we will now look closely into all the data and see what we can do in the final two stages tomorrow," Paddon said.

-RNZ