Motorsport: Paddon takes first SWRC win in Portugal

Hayden Paddon and John Kennard had a challenging - but ultimately successful - Rally of Portugal. Photo / Honza Fronek

Hayden Paddon picked up a surprising class win in the Rally of Portugal overnight, taking him to second spot in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship.

Paddon and co-driver John Kennard took a big time hit after an electrical fault grounded their Skoda Fabia on Friday.

An impressive performance after restarting on Saturday saw the young driver from Geraldine win every stage and move up to third in the hotly-contested class.

Yesterday the Kiwi pair moved into second place behind Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi - who had a seemingly insurmountable lead of nearly nine minutes.

However, Al Rajhi's Ford was taken out of contention with a broken cross-member, giving Paddon the opportunity he needed.

"We wanted to come here to win, but we didn't win it like we wanted to," said Paddon, who also had to contend with an alternator wire fault on yesterday's third stage.

"We're happy though and I've always said to finish first, first you have to finish. There's a lot more to come from the car and from me. We're looking forward to Brother Rally New Zealand for the next round in June."

The win in Portugal - Paddon's second event in his 2012 SWRC campaign - gives him 37 points, just six points behind SWRC championship leader Craig Breen.

- NZ HERALD STAFF