Hayden Paddon is feeling more positive about his competitiveness against World Rally Championship front-runners.
The New Zealander sealed eighth place in his fourth event of the season, Rally Portugal, yesterday.
He described it as ''an-up-and-down weekend'' and, although he had hoped for a top-five result, he was encouraged by the relative closeness of his times to the rally's podium finishers.
Overall, Paddon and co-driver John Kennard finished 2min 54.3sec behind winner Finnish driver Jari-Matti Latvala.
''To put it in context, we were closer to the leaders here compared to last year's Rally Australia, where we finished sixth, and this year's Rally Sweden, when we secured our best-ever WRC result to date with a fifth place,'' Paddon said.
Paddon (Hyundai) started yesterday's short leg - just three special stages - in seventh position, but the struggle to find pace on worn tyres meant he was forced to settle for eighth overall.
''The long middle stage this morning was tough,'' Paddon said.
''From the start, we found it difficult with different wear rates on the tyres, which felt like the car was continually trying to turn ends on us.''
The two stages around the town of Fafe were ''amazing'' and featured great crowd atmosphere, he said.
''I have never done this stage before, unlike some of the other drivers, and it was certainly a special feeling from inside the car.''
Paddon finished the event's final three stages with the eighth, seventh and ninth-fastest times respectively.
The weekend's highlights included a second-fastest stage time on Saturday and, while Paddon hoped for a couple more top three stage times, badly worn tyres, an overshoot and Sunday's issue with a rock stymied his plans.
''I think there are a lot of positives we can take out of the weekend, and being competitive against our team-mates is certainly promising.
''Our benchmark is always our team-mates and this weekend we were the fastest Hyundai on six of the 14 stages and finished less than 30 seconds behind the leading Hyundai, Dani Sordo, who secured sixth.
''This alone is the measurement we are using to gauge our performance and gives us good confidence moving forward.''
Paddon now returns to his European base in Frankfurt, and Kennard to his Marlborough vineyard.
The two will regroup for the Italian round of the WRC in Sardinia on June 11-14.
