Hyundai's Paddon says WRC career low over after Portugal progress
Hyundai's Hayden Paddon believes he managed to turn his 2017 World Rally Championship season around in Portugal, even though it proved to be another troubled event

At the previous round in Argentina, Paddon admitted he had run out of ideas for getting back on the pace and was at an all-time low.
Last weekend he led in Portugal and took four stage wins before electrical problems intervened.
"We made a lot of changes at our pre-event test in Sardinia, and I feel at one with the car now," said Paddon.
"I feel part of it for the first time [this season].
"The team said they would bring the car to me and credit to them, they've done that.
"We worked on the suspension and differential settings in Sardinia and it worked."
Paddon dropped back from the lead on Friday morning in Portugal when his i20 briefly cut out, then recovered to third before the problem returned in the afternoon and this time stopped him for over 10 minutes.
A steering issue hampered him later on in the event, and he was retired from his 29th-place result before the official finish to give Hyundai more freedom to work on the car before next month's Rally Italy.
"Your guess is as good as mine on the steering problem," Paddon said.
"That's the top priority right now, to get that sorted.
"The team's got the best of intentions, but it's just frustrating that it keeps happening to us - all the cars are built to the same spec, so it's just pure bad luck that it's our car."
CO-DRIVER CHANGE COULD BE PERMANENT

Seb Marshall stepped in as Paddon's co-driver earlier than planned last weekend when his regular partner John Kennard aggravated a hip injury in Argentina.
The original intention had been for Kennard to retire from WRC co-driving following Rally Finland at the end of July, but Marshall is now expected to stay in the car for Italy and could be there full-time.
"The plan was for John to stop after Finland, but that was before the injury threw a spanner in the works," said Paddon.
"It'll become difficult to chop and change co-drivers.
"Seb and I have started to build a rapport, but John's part of this project and we want to do what's best for everybody."
Marshall, who previously worked with Kevin Abbring, was delighted to lead a rally and set fastest times for the first time in his WRC career.
"Everything has gone very well," Marshall said.
"Hayden said to that he feels like we've been together for years already, so I think that's a good thing. I'll wait to hear what's next for me now."
Hyundai team manager Alain Penasse said the co-driver decision was down to Paddon and Kennard.
"There's some emotion in this one, so it has to come from him and John," said Penasse.

WRC Rally of Portugal: Ogier takes comfortable second win of season
Andreas Mikkelsen gets Citroen WRC drive for Rally Italy

Latest news
Double F1 race winner Jean Pierre Jabouille has died
Former French Formula 1 driver Jean-Pierre Jabouille has died on Thursday at age 80, French media have reported.
IMSA champion Jarvis to contest full ELMS season with United Autosports
Reigning IMSA Sportscar Championship title-winner Oliver Jarvis will contest the European Le Mans Series with United Autosports alongside Formula 2 convert Marino Sato, in addition to the World Endurance Championship.
20 years on: Porsche’s 911 GT Daytona 24 Hours giant-killing relived
IMSA’s new GTP class for LMDh cars had a more auspicious debut last weekend than the Daytona Prototypes that arrived in 2003. Back then, they were humbled by a GT Porsche 911, which won the Floridian sportscar classic by nine laps.
Entries open for the 2023 Williams Autosport Engineer of the Future Award story
Entries have opened for the 2023 Williams Autosport Engineer of the Future Award, with budding motorsport engineers invited to apply for the revamped prize.
Why Monte Carlo success could spark another past master’s WRC revival
Some 39 years on from his Monte Carlo Rally debut, World Rally Championship legend Francois Delecour continues to pick up silverware. Proving that age is purely a number, the 60-year-old's desire to compete against the WRC’s latest young talents could be the start of a new chapter in the Frenchman’s storied career
How fired-up Ogier became the WRC's ultimate Monte master
He may only be contesting a part-time campaign in the World Rally Championship these days, but Sebastien Ogier underlined that he's lost none of his speed in the 2023 season opener. Storming to yet another victory on the Monte Carlo Rally, the eight-time world champion rewrote the history books again as Toyota served notice of its intentions with a crushing 1-2
How Lancia pulled off its famous Monte Carlo giantkilling
Audi should have been invincible in the snowy conditions that typically greeted the World Rally Championship paddock in Monte Carlo. But unexpectedly warm weather for the 1983 season opener, combined with some left-field thinking from the Lancia crew turned the tables. Forty years on, team boss Cesare Fiorio reflects on a smash and grab
Why M-Sport has pinned all its efforts on a WRC reunion
M-Sport had a disastrous 2022 with its Rally1 Ford Pumas following Sebastien Loeb’s first-time-out win on the Monte. But now things are looking up with 2019 world champion Ott Tanak leading its attack, and the Cumbrian operation has optimism that it can challenge for a first title since Sebastien Ogier's departure at the end of 2018
The contenders seeking to take Rovanpera's WRC crown
As Kalle Rovanpera begins his World Rally Championship title defence in Monte Carlo, the Finn knows he has a target on his back. But who is best placed to knock the Toyota ace off his perch?
Why Rovanpera is anticipating a fight to defend his WRC title
Question: what could be harder than becoming the youngest-ever World Rally champion? Answer: becoming the youngest-ever two-time World Rally champion. That's quite the challenge facing Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera in 2022, particularly against rejuvenated opposition in the second year of the WRC's hybrid regulations
From F1 to WRC: Why Hyundai's new boss could be an inspired signing
OPINION: New Hyundai WRC team boss Cyril Abiteboul admits he’s got a lot to learn as he leads the marque's efforts to dethrone Toyota. But could his Formula 1 experience and evident strengths mean he turns out to be an inspired choice?
The ultimate rally car project the WRC is glad COVID killed
Toyota was unstoppable in the 2021 World Rally Championship, with an excellent 75% strike rate from 12 rallies. But in a scary proposition for its rivals, the Japanese marque had built a car for the final year of the previous regulations set which it believes was much faster and could feasibly have crushed the opposition completely. Here the story of its mothballed world-beater
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.