While Hayden Paddon dominated the opening round of the New Zealand Rally Championship, David Holder and Phil Campbell did well too, finishing in 3rd and 4th place.

While Paddon appears in a class of his own in his brand new Hyundai i20, the battle for the remaining podium spots happened in the final stage, with Ben Hunt's new Subaru WRX STI holding off a fast finishing David Holder's Mitsubishi by just 18.4 seconds.

David Holder and Jason Farmer ended Round 1 in third place. Photo: Holder Brothers Racing.

Phil Campbell (Mitsubishi) and Andrew Hawkeswood (Mazda) rounded out the top five.

David Holder, from Mount Maunganui, told his fans via his Facebook page, 'A challenging day for us! Struggled big time with concentration through a numbers of stages which provided a couple of exciting moments for Jase and I.

'Finished the day 3rd overall so a fantastic start to the championship for the team!”

Tauranga driver Phil Campbell wrote on his page, 'The 2016 Drivesouth Rally of Otago has come to an end, The Roofing Store Evo coming home nice and clean in a creditable 4th after what has been a hell week for the crew.

'This bags some good points going into the next round.”

The New Zealand Rally Championshipcovers the country's best gravel roads over six rounds.

Paddon leads the championship over Hunt, Holder, Hawkeswood and Campbell as the championship heads to Whangarei on April 29-May 1.

Otago Rally results: Hayden Paddon/John Kennard 2:23:05.4 Ben Hunt/Tony Rawstorn +9:22.1 David Holder/Jason Farmer +9:40.5 Phil Campbell/Venita Fabbro +12:59.2 Andrew Hawkeswood/Jeff Cress +13:14.6

NZRC standings after round one. Hayden Paddon 44 Ben Hunt 33 David Holder 29 Andrew Hawkeswood 22 Phil Campbell 20