New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and John Kennard hold a strong second place on the leaderboard after the first two days of Rally Sweden.
Paddon and Kennard are just over 17sec behind rally leader and three-time world rally champion Sebastien Ogier with just one special stage to run today.
The rally began with six stages on Saturday instead of the scheduled eight. Rally organisers had shortened the whole rally due to earlier rain and warmer-than-expected weather creating soft, muddy roads rather than the ice and snow for which the cars' compulsory studded tyres are made.
Driving the five-door New Generation Hyundai i20 WRC car in competition for the first time and running ninth on the road (with start order decided by drivers' championship positions), Paddon and Kennard made a steady start on the first three stages, which took them into Norway.
As heavy snow started to fall, the three stages were run in reverse order for the afternoon.
In what would be a significant move, Paddon and Kennard were able to take advantage of their road position - a clearer line in the falling snow from earlier competitors - and push on to win the day's final two stages. It lifted them to second place overall, 32.4sec behind Ogier.
For yesterday's five stages (reduced from eight), crews started in championship order, which put Ogier first on the road again and Paddon seventh. The Kiwis continued well and finished the day comfortably holding second.
Their margin to Ogier was 17.1sec, and they were 25.2sec ahead of Mads Ostberg (Norway).
‘‘We went into the penultimate stage 10sec behind Ogier and that's like a minute to anyone else,'' Paddon said after special stage 16.
‘‘It's been a good day. To consolidate our position in second is very good. That was obviously the target today.
''We got pretty close to Seb there in the morning run when road conditions played into our hands. We weren't able to quite keep pace on the afternoon stages, but still we're very happy to be where we are.''
Rally Sweden concludes today with just one special stage, after organisers cancelled yet another scheduled stage.
