Hayden Paddon has powered up the Rally Australia leaderboard in the opening loop of Saturday’s stages, the Kiwi driver catapulting himself from fourth to second in the first stage alone. He is now challenging Andreas Mikkelsen for the lead, the rivals split by 13.6 seconds arriving at the mid-leg service. Sébastien Ogier, second last night, has dropped to third but only three seconds further adrift.

Today’s route is the longest of the rally and kicked off with the daunting 50.80 kilometre Nambucca stage, which will be run again this afternoon. Paddon was on a charge from the outset, declaring on Friday that today’s stages were the ones he had been looking forward to all season. The Hyundai i20 WRC driver was over 10 seconds quicker than Mikkelsen and overhauled both Ogier and Thierry Neuville for second in the opening stage, despite dust billowing into the car covering he and co-driver John Kennard from head to foot. In the second test he was again quicker than Mikkelsen and has opened up a three-way battle for victory with his Norwegian rival and third-placed Ogier. Mikkelsen was happy with his morning despite struggling for grip and similarly, Ogier was pleased with his performance first on the road and on a different tyre strategy to everyone else.

Behind the tight fight for the win, Neuville has slipped back from third last night to fourth having backed off three or four times in the second stage because of hanging dust. He is 23.2 seconds off the lead now, but not giving up on the podium battle. Mads Østberg is fifth in the lead Fiesta RS WRC finding conditions difficult in the dust and he heads Dani Sordo in sixth. Eric Camilli continues to have a good first outing in Rally Australia and holds seventh while Ott Tanak, eighth, is struggling with tyres in the high temperatures. Lorenzo Bertelli has climbed to ninth this morning and heads Esapekka Lappi, the Finn 10th overall and dominantly leading the FIA WRC 2 Championship category. Michel Fabre continues his lonely WRC 3 Championship campaign as the sole competitor in this two-wheel drive series.