Cheered on by legions of Kiwi fans, New Zealand's Hayden Paddon had a solid start to his WRC Rally of Australia yesterday.
He finished the eight stages to the south of Coffs Harbour sixth overall, still within striking distance (25.5sec) of the event leader Volkswagen Motorsport's Jari-Matti Latvala.
Paddon and co-driver John Kennard had a dominant morning, claiming top-five times in the first five stages in their Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC.
Paddon said at the midday service that he ''got caught out with the tyre choice and the abrasive nature of the roads''.
The softer compound options left him in tyre management mode, unable to push or attack on the four stages where he had hoped to gain the most ground over the front-running drivers, who were effectively sweeping the roads.
Volkswagen's Sébastien Ogier, who can secure his third consecutive world championship here as long as he finishes ahead of his Finnish team-mate Latvala, led out the 11 WRC drivers yesterday.
Although he described his role as ''cleaning'' the very slippery morning stages, Ogier stormed to victory on the eighth and final stage, finishing third overall, only 4.6sec shy of Latvala.
Watching the WRC teams perform their lunchtime service duties yesterday was impressive.
Paddon's chief engineer at Hyundai Motorsport, Portugal's Rui Soares said the 30-minute reprieve after the morning's four stages was divided in two parts: fixing what was wrong with the car and adapting it to Paddon's requirements.
Paddon briefs his team as he drives back to the service park, so they are ready to initiate any changes the minute his i20 stops inside the Hyundai tent.
Tyres were whisked off almost before the car rolled to a halt and the springs were swapped out for ones better suited the afternoon's four stages.
The brakes would be usually only be changed once per rally, Soares said.
''Normally we don't put in new parts, unless the parts are broken.''
A team of five mechanics worked feverishly on the car, while Paddon watched in-car footage on a laptop to prepare himself for the repeat runs of the morning stages.
Soares worked with him back in his Production World Rally Championship-winning year in 2011 and described the New Zealander as ''very strong mechanically''.
''He is very open-minded. He is a good student, a good learner.''
However, the final three stages left Paddon baffled.
''The first stage this afternoon felt good but from the start of the second it's felt like I have a front-left puncture.
"We haven't and I don't know what the problem is. The balance of the car is really, really inconsistent,'' he said after finishing only 3.8sec off Latvala's winning pace in stage seven.
After the final test, where he was a more distant 20.9sec behind stage winner Ogier, Paddon was still troubled.
''It's the same problem. At every right-hand corner, it just doesn't want to go round. I think there's something wrong,'' he said.
Dust was an issue towards the day's end and Citroen's Kris Meeke, who finished second overall for the first leg, said he was ''driving in sixth gear and you can't see the end of the bonnet''.
Rally Australia continues with four stages today and another five tomorrow.
Ten facts about Rally Australia
1) The sheer number of New Zealand driver Hayden Paddon's supporters. There are literally hundreds of Hyundai shirt-wearing, silver-fern flag-waving Kiwis everywhere.
2) Volume of volunteers. There are about 1500 working over the three days.
3) The incredible fleet of helicopters. They have their own dedicated airspace for the event and buzz along following or filming the top drivers. Hyundai Motorsport has two choppers solely for flying its media around. At the end of the third stage there were three private helicopters parked, before whirring away to watch the action.
4) Dust, dust and more dust. The WRC cars have three minute intervals between them, mostly to allow the dust to settle. Many canny rally spectators were wearing face masks.
5) Happening upon Paddon and co-driver John Kennard on a side road between stages switching worn tyres around. Paddon was wielding the rattle-gun bolting on the tyres as Kennard chatted with other passers-by, who stopped to take selfies.
6) The size of the Volkswagen Motorsport set up. It is three huge tents, encompassing corporate hosting, its three cars and team headquarters.
7) Speed of the WRC cars. They are flying past on the stages.
8) Media presence. Hundreds of media were accredited for the event. Space was set aside in the press room for up to 60 journalists and photographers at a time.
9) Number of tyres the WRC teams are allowed - 24 per event - equalling four new tyres at each of the six service stops over the three-day event.
10) Twist of fate. Citroen protege Stephane Lefebvre thought he was here to complete the two-day recce for Rally Australia but after his team mate Mads Ostberg was injured in a recce crash, he was promoted to driving duties. Before the rally started Lefebvre had completed a total of 25km of WRC car driving on gravel.
