WRC2 victory leaves Paddon betwixt and between
It was a case of ‘what if’, for Hayden Paddon at the Rally New Zealand – and a surprise to no-one he won the WRC2 category at the weekend.
There wasn’t really much in the way of competition for the experienced 35-year-old, with Poland’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz the best of only a few regular WRC2 drivers who had made the long trip to New Zealand.
Shane van Gisbergen showed tremendous pace in his Skoda, as he does with the wheel of any car he gets behind, but the Supercars champion is still ascending a steep learning curve for this form of motorsport.
Paddon showed at the weekend he was certainly a better driver than Lorenzo Bertelli, who took up a spot in one of the WRC1 M-Sport Ford Pumas, while you could make a strong argument that he was also better than Takamoto Katsuta and Oliver Solberg.
Had Paddon been given a WRC1 car to drive, he may not have been able to match it with rally winner and now world champion Kalle Rovanpera¨, or possibly Ott Ta¨nak and Sebastien Ogier, but he would have lived with everyone else. Paddon tried everything get in a Rally1 car but Hyundai World Rally Team wasn’t able to provide him with one and his close relationship with Hyundai NZ meant picking up a drive at M-Sport Ford was a non-starter.
So he found himself in an odd position. Too good for the WRC2 competition, but in a car not fast enough to keep pace with the WRC1 drivers, apart from Bertelli. ‘‘At the end of the day, the opportunities are what they are and I can’t change that,’’ Paddon said. ‘‘I’d love to be here in one of those cars, particularly on Friday when the stages were fast and flowing and it always felt like we were down on power.
‘‘The front boys are so quick, I don’t know if we would have challenged them for a win, but maybe we would have been in the top five without any seat time.
‘‘But I’m not going to think about what ifs, this is what we’ve got, so this is what we’re going to make the most of.’’
Paddon eventually finished sixth overall, but that was partly down to his ability to avoid the big accidents that Craig Breen, Elfyn Evans, Gus Greensmith and Katsuta suffered.
WRC Promoter, the organisation which runs the World Rally
Championship, did do all it could to get Paddon in a top car, but issues with Hyundai being able to produce a vehicle for him in the first year of the new hybrid car era meant it was too problematic.
WRC Promoter had been hoping to get Paddon in a WRC1 car for Rally NZ in 2023, but that was before it was confirmed they won’t be back next year, but could return in 2024.
Paddon said he was saddened when he heard that news.
‘‘There’s obviously more to that story than what I know,’’ Paddon said. ‘‘Naturally I was disappointed, but I hope they do get it back in 2024, otherwise this will have become a waste of time, money, effort and infrastructure.’’