Motorsport: More misery for Paddon as Ogier leads

Hayden Paddon during the SS12 Amarante of the WRC Portugal. Photo / Getty Images

Four-time world champion Sebastien Ogier leads Rally Portugal by nearly 17 seconds while Kiwi Hayden Paddon has suffered more mechanical failure on the second full day.

An electrical issue ruined the New Zealander's rally on Friday when he lost 11 minutes while leading the event. He rejoined under Rally 2 rules on day two but was the second car on the road and therefore unable to set competitive times as he swept the roads clean.

To top things off a steering rack failure saw him retire in the afternoon loop. He will re-start again for the final day overnight.

M-Sport Ford driver Ogier enjoyed a day where he wasn't having to sweep the roads and quickly took over the lead of the event. The championship leader holds a 16.8s advantage over Hyundai's Thierry Neuville with a second Hyundai of Dani Sordo third 51.3s behind the rally leader.

"What can I say? It just seems our bad luck continues," Paddon said.

"We started this morning's loop in a positive frame of mind despite the issues we had yesterday. The team worked hard to replace the loom on the car to allow us to continue under Rally 2.

"We knew it would be tough as second on the road, but we were determined to push and have some fun. I enjoyed it. We had some good sideways moments and put on a good show for the fans. The times were never going to be representative with all the cleaning we had to do.

"Then, in the afternoon, our luck turned once again as we experienced a steering problem that ended the day early. Not a lot more to add, other than we'll try to have a trouble-free final day tomorrow."

Day two standings
1. Sebastien Ogier (Ford)
2. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) +16.8s
3. Dani Sordo (Hyundai) +51.3s
4. Ott Tanak (Ford) +1:29.6s
5. Craig Breen (Citroen) +1:32.4s
6. Elfyn Evans (Ford) +3:01.8s