With 13 stages run, Mabellini, driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 for Team MRF Tyres, leads Paddon by 12.1sec ahead of the final 11.87 timed kilometres of the 2024 ERC season.
It follows a half-spin and overshoot for BRC Racing Team-run Paddon aboard his Pirelli-equipped Hyundai i20 N Rally2 on the rain-hit SS13.
"We had an adventure in the stage,” Paddon said. “Second corner, went off line in a bank and pretty much got bellied. I was just sitting there on full throttle trying to get out, had to reverse, going again and we dropped out 15 [seconds] there. Then a couple of ks later at a junction I just went straight through the barriers, had to go down the road, loop around, come back. I don’t think I’ve had so many adventures in one stage so we probably dropped a good 20-plus seconds. Tricky conditions, we’re here but at the time I was thinking ‘not now’.”
Jon Armstrong’s fourth fastest time of the day on SS13 has put the M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 driver back into third place. The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver has a 3.8sec advantage over Polish hero Miko Marczyk, the leading Michelin-equipped driver.
Mille Johansson leads FIA ERC3 in his Hankook-shod Ford Fiesta Rally3, while Calle Carlberg has an FIA ERC4 and FIA Junior ERC double in his sights behind the wheel of his Hankook-equipped Opel Corsa Rally4.
The Silesian Voivodeship Power Stage gets under way at 16:05 local time with all the coverage on Rally.tv.
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