Paddon leads as brutal morning forces several retirements

Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon led a World Rally Championship event for the first time since Portugal 2018 after emerging from a brutal morning at Rally Paraguay that decimated the Rally1 field.

Paddon and co-driver John Kennard were the only Rally1 crew to avoid trouble across four stages that resulted in Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier retiring from the action.

As a result, Paddon headed to midday service with a surprise 23.9s lead over M-Sport-Ford’s Josh McErlean, while championship leader Elfyn Evans was third, 26.7s from the lead.

“I never expec