Paddon upbeat despite early Monte crash
Works Hyundai driver Hayden Paddon is focusing on the positives after he and fellow Kiwi co-driver John Kennard had to fight back from a Friday crash to finish 25th in the first World Rally Championship event of the year, the Monte Carlo Rally, in January.
“Coming here, we expected this to be our toughest rally for the year, and it’s certainly lived up to that expectation,” he said.
“At the same time there are a lot of positives to take away from the weekend. We learned a lot about the surfaces, the conditions, the tyre choices – all these things you really need experience of on this sort of rally to be successful here.”
Paddon and Kennard started the event strongly with their times on the first two night stages – seventh and fourth quickest respectively – earning them fifth overall on the leader board overnight.
However, the icy mountain roads bit back the next day, meaning the Kiwis had to retire and miss the full day’s itinerary.
“We just got caught out by a patch of ice that pitched the rear of the car into a tree, pulling off the rear-left wheel,” Paddon said.
Re-joining on Saturday morning under Rally 2 regulations, the pair were back on the pace with seventh fastest, fifth fastest and even a second fastest stage times.
This year’s Monte Carlo event was won by
Story by Ross MacKay Photo by Timo Anis defending title holders Sebastien Ogier and codriver Julien Ingrassia from fellow works VW Polo pair Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jaegar and the first of the new-generation Hyundai i20 WRC cars of Paddon and Kennard’s teammates Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul.
Paddon and Hayden Paddon RallySport Global (HPRG) Ltd appreciates the support of their exclusive partners, Hyundai New Zealand, Pak’nSave and Z Energy and associate sponsors Scott Sports and All About Signs Timaru. Hayden’s 2016 WRC schedule Rd 1: Monte Carlo, January 21-24 Rd 2: Sweden, February 11-14 Rd 3: Mexico, March 3-6 Rd 4: Argentina, April 21-24 Rd 5: Portugal, May 19-22 Rd 6: Italy, June 9-12 Rd 7: Poland, July 1-3 Rd 8: Finland, July 28-31 Rd 9: Germany, August 18-21 Rd 10: China, September 8-11 Rd 11: France, September 29 –October 2 Rd 12: Spain, October 13-16 Rd 13: Great Britain, October 27-30 Rd 14: Australia, November 17-20