After chaos ensued in the showroom class of the WRC, New Zealand driver Hayden Paddon takes the lead of Rally Argentina on the final stage of day 1.

Photo: D.Darrall

Its been a real struggle for the boys further down in the PWRC. Day 1 was a rough and tough event for the Group N cars. Most of day 1 was led by Patrik Flodin in his Subaru Impreza but his day came to an end due to electrical problems and was unable to start the final stage. A lot of the PWRC drivers had problems and total confusion set amounts most trying to make sense of it.

Martin Semerad crashed out in the morning loop. Harry Hunt slid off the road on the first run through el Condor. Kosciuszko, who was in 2nd place, and Fuchs both stopped on the last stage. The only driver that seems to have made it to the end of a destructive Production car breaking day 1, was Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon. At the end of the final stage said, “One of the hardest day’s rally I’ve ever done. I’ve enjoyed it – it’s sandy and rocky and fast. Bits have fallen off the car, but I’ve loved it.” Paddon does a repeat of Rally Portugal and now takes the lead of the PWRC by a massive lead in his Symtech racing run Subaru Impreza by 7 minutes 17 seconds to Alejandro Levy, and Dmitrv Tagirov in 3rd and at the end of the stage said “It was dangerous, but i enjoyed it.”