Overnight penalty hands Brit lead at Rally NZ

British driver Elfyn Evans was handed the lead going into day three of Rally New Zealand after a penalty to overnight leader Ott Tänak.

Hayden Paddon gets airborne during the 2022 Rally of New Zealand.
Photo: Geoff Ridder

Estonian driver Tanak and Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville both copped a five-second penalty for a engine infringement in Thursday night’s opening super special stage at the Auckland Domain.

Officials deemed the energy released during hybrid boosts on both cars was higher than the maximum value allowed for that stage.

The ruling meant Toyota’s Evans took the lead ahead of stage eight, the opening stage of the penultimate day of the event.

Frenchman Sebastien Ogier was third after working his way into the lead before losing time on the final stage with wearing tyres and handling, after he knocked his rear spoiler off on the penultimate stage.

The field battled the long stages, and testing weather conditions with rain providing a significant challenge along with tyre wear on the day where only refuelling was allowed.

New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon led the second tier WRC2 category by more than 30 seconds and sat ninth overall.

He also claimed his sixth New Zealand Rally Championship title on the day, which doubled as fifth round of the national series .

Paddon became the single most winning driver in the history of the championship with his sixth title.

Day three action was taking place north of Auckland, with double runs through stages in the Kaipara Hills, Puhoi and Komokoriki.