Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard enter this weekend’s Bauhaus Royal Rally of Scandinavia in Sweden looking to defend the European Rally Championship lead.
Paddon will again take to the wheel of BRC Racing Team’s Hyundai i20 N to compete over the 16-stage, two-day gravel event.
Beginning with SS1 at 7.19 pm on Friday (NZ time), competitors will cover the 8.09km Olme, 20.11km Lungsund, 15.53km Angebackstrop and 10.04km Molnbacka before lunch.
The second half of the day sees a second run over each of those stages for a total of 107.54km of rally.
A slightly shorter Day 2 begins at 5.23 pm on Saturday, starting with Tomten (8.29km), which is followed by Tolita (9.52km), Gardsjo (11.46km) and Colins (9.55km).
As was the case on Friday, each of Saturday’s stages will also be re-run. The second passing on Colins is the event’s Power Stage.
There will also be a Legends category running over select stages, with Scandinavian great Petter Solberg set to take to the gravel. His son Oliver Solberg will be competing against Paddon in the Rally2 class.
Having won the season-opening rally in Portugal, Paddon has finished second in each of the following three. He leads Martins Sesks by 30 points heading into the round, with Mads Ostberg a further 14 points behind in third. Ostberg has, however, already used his drop round, having missed Rally Islas Canarias in May.
The Bauhaus Royal Rally of Scandinavia will be streamed on WRC+ (paid subscription) and can be followed via live updates on the European Rally Championship website.
Header Image: Paddon in action in Latvia (European Rally Championship)