The New Zealand pair dominated the first half of The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally’s on Saturday and continued to lead through Sunday’s for a 1:06.8s victory in their Hyundai i20 N.

“This weekend was probably the best one of the three wins in terms of feeling a little bit more of the normal performance that we would expect of myself,” Paddon said.

“It’s been a good week, and we got everything out of it that we needed to, so it was perfect.

“After the first loop, we probably built a bigger gap than what we were expecting and then the night it was just about maintaining it.

“Coming into today with a minute lead, it was really about just being smart, doing nothing stupid and then obviously try to get the Power Stage win.

“The result is very good for the title. The way the point structure is in the championship, it won’t be done until the last rally, so you can’t even relax or take it for granted.

“We just have to keep pushing and getting as many points as we can.”

Second and third went to the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia teammates Harry Bates (with Coral Taylor) and Lewis Bates (with Anthony McLoughlin) in their Toyota GR Yaris pair.

The second half of the round – a continuation of day one rather than a second heat – was much closer.

Paddon and Harry Bates exchanged wins over the first six stages before Paddon locked up the overall victory with wins on SS17 and the final Power Stage, SS18

“Not our best weekend. Happy to be here to collect points, but the championship is not looking crash hot,” conceded Harry Bates.

It was a further 35 seconds to Lewis Bates who was consistent with seven stage thirds and one second and admitted he didn’t have the pace to match the winner.

Fourth overall were Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney who battled through a differential issue with their Hyundai i20 N that couldn’t be fixed in time at service.

Rounding out the top five were Bodie Reading and Brad Jones in the Les Walkden Rallying Subaru Impreza WRX. They finished just 14s ahead of Troy Dowel and Bernie Webb in the third GR Yaris who trailed more than a minutes at the start of the day.

Reading also secured the Production Cup honours, beating Danny Traverso and Anthony Carr (Mitsubishi Mirage) and Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newell (Mitsubishi Evo 9) and were eighth and ninth outright.

The EROAD Australian Rally Championship fifth round will be in South Australia, with the Copyworld Adelaide Hills Rally on October 4-6.

Results: EROAD Australian Rally Championship, Gippsland Rally (Top 10)