Paddon makes up for lost time
Hayden Paddon and his team have needed to hastily arrange testing in Finland ahead of the WRC event in that country, because he caught Covid-19 in Estonia.
The New Zealand rally driver was looking to make a comeback to the WRC circuit in Estonia last weekend, as part of his preparation to compete fully in WRC2 next season.
However, after having Covid symptoms on Friday morning and testing positive at a break after a few stages, Paddon was forced to pull out.
Rally Estonia was supposed to be where Paddon got to further try out his new Hyundai i20 N Rally2.
But without getting much of an opportunity to do that in the Balkan country, he’s had to change plans and organise testing ahead of Rally Finland, which begins on August 4, so that they are better prepared.
‘‘It does make Finland a bit harder, but in saying that we’re trying to reorganise our logistics at the moment,’’ Paddon said.
‘‘We weren’t planning on doing a test, but now with the lack of mileage in the car, we’re trying to do a test next week. A one or two-day test, to see if we can start getting everything dialled in.
‘‘So we’re just changing things a bit so that we can still try to be as equally prepared as we would have been.
‘‘The guys are re-prepping the car this week in Estonia and then we’ll look to move vehicles and trucks up to Finland next week.’’
Paddon said his Covid symptoms were significant during the four stages he drove on Friday and it was becoming a safety issue.
‘‘It was starting to set in on Friday,’’ he said. ‘‘I had a negative test to begin with and then started the rally, but just couldn’t focus or anything with my driving, I almost felt dizzy behind the wheel.
‘‘It wasn’t good, so that’s when we thought we’d better see what’s going on once we got back to the service park and that’s when we got the first positive test.’’
Paddon’s times weren’t competitive with the leading WRC2 cars, which is understandable given how he was feeling.
The team had made a number of adjustments to the car since competing in Rally Latvia, a European Rally Championship event two weeks before Estonia, but the limited time he had in the car and how he was feeling meant the team isn’t sure what benefits the changes made.
‘‘I couldn’t judge it at all,’’ he said. ‘‘I couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t do anything, so it wasn’t great for judging.’’
The rest of Paddon’s team have either had Covid, or produced negative tests over the weekend.
Paddon has to stay on his own in a hotel in Estonia, before he can get back into rallying mode.
‘‘It’s an isolation period of seven days and then hopefully I get some negative tests and get on as per normal,’’ he said. ‘‘But it’s certainly a lot more relaxed in this part of the world than it is in New Zealand. I’ve been surprised how relaxed it is.’’
His two attempts to compete in WRC in 2019 ended with a crash in testing in Finland, then a cancellation of Rally Australia because of bush fires, but Paddon doesn’t look at his latest misfortune as a sign that he’s jinxed in WRC.
‘‘We obviously had quite strict protocols in place in New Zealand and I managed to avoid it [Covid] for the last two years,’’ he said.
‘‘It had to happen at some point I guess, it’s just not great timing for it to happen now.
‘‘It’s done now and hopefully it’s out of the way for these next few events and we can carry on and focus on the things we can control. I can’t control this sort of thing, it is what it is.’’