WRC: Paddon still leads Rally Italy at end of Friday

Hayden Paddon remains in the lead of Rally Italy heading into Saturday's stages, but Sebastien Ogier slashed the Kiwi's lead to 8.8s on the final stage of the day.

The afternoon's stages were much cleaner than the morning loop and the effect of sweeping the roads was reduced for the front runners, as Paddon matched the VWs for pace in an outstanding display from the 28-year-old, driving the 2015-spec Hyundai for the first time this year.

Jari-Matti Latvala had been Paddon's closest contender, but the Finn ran wide in SS9 and hit a bank, ripping the tyre from its rim and costing the Volkswagen driver second place.

Ogier jumped into third after a day of damage limitation following Latvala's trouble, and then went second fastest behind the Finn on the final stage, as Paddon backed off thanks to a couple of hairy moments on the test. Latvala came back at Ogier by winning the final stage of the day, but only by 1.2s, leaving the gap between the two at 17s overall and Latvala firmly in third.

Ott Tanak gave the new-spec Fiesta its second stage win of the weekend on SS7, and moved up into fourth on the final stage of the day. He made the most of trouble for Dani Sordo, who he was catching before the Spaniard hit difficulty.

Sordo had held station in fourth after a decent afternoon, but an accident on the last stage of the day ripped a wheel off his Hyundai. He lost well over a minute, and will struggle to get back to the services after that major issue. If he does, he'll begin tomorrow seventh.

The chain reaction of Sordo's incident helped to promote Mads Ostberg to fifth. The Norwegian had a terrible day, at one point disconsolate about his lack of pace, but moved past Sordo and Thierry Neuville on the final stage after he found the 3s needed to jump the Belgian.

Neuville continued his return to form, despite suffering an issue on SS9. He had a handbrake problem and lost a turbo pipe, but a makeshift repair for SS10 allowed him to complete the stage, the Belgian showing a fantastic piece of ingenuity to end the day sixth.

Originally on Autosport.com