While the New Zealand pair would have loved to have finished higher than the sixth place they earned in the Hyundai i20 Rally 2, they are both still at the top of their respective driver and co-driver standings in the FIA European Rally Championship, Hyundai New Zealand Rally reports.
The closeness of the ERC top-runners is highlighted by the fact Paddon finished just 38.2sec behind the winner, Italian driver Andrea Crugnola, and only 6.1sec off his closest championship rival, Mathieu Franceschi, who finished fifth, after 189km of competition.
Describing it as a tough weekend, Paddon said the Kiwi pair were obviously looking for more.
"It’s not from a lack of trying by the team, BRC Racing, John and myself.
"We’re simply lacking performance compared to our rivals and we gave it everything we could with the package we had."
Paddon felt it was some of his best driving on any tarmac rally to date.
"Everything felt really good on the stages with top-three and top-five stage times throughout the event, but overall the times weren’t quite there.
"It’s so close and we couldn’t put up the fight we wanted to those who finished ahead of us."
Being at the top of the championship leaderboard is a silver lining to the weekend’s results. Paddon is now on 89 points compared to Franceschi’s 82 with three ERC rounds to go.
"Everything’s running reliably and well, but it’s back to the drawing board with the team to see what solutions we can find to bridge the gap which we seem to be missing this year," Paddon said.
Next up for Paddon is Barum Czech Rally Zlin, also on tarmac, on August 16-18.
