Mabellini scored a breakthrough victory
alongside co-driver Virginia Lenzi with Paddon making it back-to-back ERC
titles in third place with John Kennard co-driving.
Paddon’s entrant, BRC Racing Team, clinched
the FIA European Rally Championship for Teams with Michelin taking the
inaugural FIA European Rally Championship for Tyre Suppliers. All results are
subject to final FIA confirmation.
Driving a Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo for Team MRF
Tyres, Mabellini trailed Paddon by 6.8sec at the overnight halt but closed to
within 5.3sec of his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 rival at the completion of Sunday’s
opening stage.
Paddon hit back on SS10 to lead by 6.1sec
before the decisive SS11, the first run through the rain-hit Silesian Voivodeship Power Stage. In wet conditions, Mabellini went
8.0sec quicker than Paddon to lead an ERC event for the first time by 1.6sec.
The Italian benefited from selecting a
cross tyre formation of soft compound dry tyres and wet weather covers to take
a lead he wouldn’t relinquish despite being close to nudging a barrier nearing
the end of the 11.87km run.
“It feels great,” said
25-year-old Mabellini, who claimed victory by 18.3sec to become the eighth
different winner of the season. “The last 11 kilometres were the longest
kilometres of my life. I want to thank everybody. It was an incredible journey.
We started from Rally5, then Rally4, Rally2 last year, we’re really, really
happy.
“First of all I would like to thank Virgi,
she always listened to me, she always made me feel great in the car so thanks
to her. Thanks to all the sponsors, all the team and especially to MRF Tyres
who believed in me and Virgi from the very beginning.”
Paddon, who tackled SS11 with a mix of
medium-compound and wet weather Pirelli tyres, lost further ground to Mabellini
with a half-spin and an overshoot on SS13, which he completed 12.1sec behind
Mabellini, albeit with a second consecutive ERC crown in the bag.
“We had an adventure in the stage,” said
New Zealander Paddon. “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’.”
Of his ERC title double, Paddon said: “I
wasn’t going to risk the title by being drawn into a fight today, I just wanted
to bring the car home. I knew what I was here to do and the title is hugely
important. We’ve worked all year to achieve it. We’ve had our backs up against the
wall for the best part of the season with a performance deficit but the team
has been working hard to bring that back and we’ve brought it back during the
last couple of rallies.”
With two stage wins on Friday and five on
Sunday, including the Power Stage, Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy-supported
Jon Armstrong claimed his first ERC podium in second after he demoted the
ultra-cautious Paddon on SS14 having fought his way through from seventh
position starting day two. At the wheel of a Pirelli-shod Ford Fiesta Rally2,
Armstrong beat Paddon by 1.5sec with home hero Miko Marcyk 5.8sec further back.
The M-Sport driver could have been even closer
to the front had it not been for a time-consuming technical issue on SS2 and a
half-spin on SS3.
For Michelin-equipped Marczyk, meanwhile, fourth
place was enough to secure third in the final ERC drivers’ standings.
Mathieu Franceschi took the runner-up spot
behind Paddon after finishing fifth on Rally Silesia as Yoann Bonato completed
his comeback from serious injury in sixth position.
Grzegorz Grzyb finished seventh as Jarosław
Szeja landed his first Polish title in eighth. Zbigniew Gabryś and Philip Allen
rounded out the top 10.
Simone Tempestini started leg two in third
place for Team MRF Tyres but went off the road at high speed 4.6km from the
start of the 11.46 Marklowice Górne test this morning.
*All
results are subject to final FIA confirmation
Japan
Poland
Turkey