Haddon Paddon: Rally Portugal - Day 1

We have had a good start to the rally here in Portugal after tonights 4 stages. We are currently leading SWRC by 25 seconds and are 9th overall.

We did take a gamble with tyres tonight, choosing to take the soft compound tyres for the shorter, night stages with rain forecasted. However, the conditions were dryer than we expected, and after damaging our tyres in the opening tarmac super special stage in Lisbon, we had 2 badly worn tyres on the rear, and good tyres on the front. We did loose some time with the tyres moving around a lot but it wasn't too bad and the times were still good.

Tomorrow's stages are new to the event and will certainly be challenging as they are more technical and rougher than past Rally Portugal stages. The weather will also play a part as isolated showers are dampening the area, so tyre decisions will be crucial.