Paddon pumped for fast Finland rally
Forget about last year’s result at the event, Hayden Paddon has plenty of factors in his favour for Rally Finland.
The Kiwi WRC star crashed out of the Finnish part of the championship in 2015, striking a rock on stage six and flying into the roadside forest, rolling twice.
Paddon has also had two eventending incidents already this year, failing to finish at both Portugal and Italy.
But as the world’s best rally drivers prepared for round eight of 14 on the 2016 calendar to start on Friday, the 29-year-old from Geraldine was in a ‘‘confident mood’’.
A somewhat unexpected third at the previous event in Poland, to move back into third overall after the disappointment of two DNFs, had sparked that optimism.
‘‘It was more important to finish the rally, rather than results,’’ Paddon said. ‘‘On the last day when conditions got really tricky we made the decision to just get through to the finish. We did that and that takes a lot of pressure off us moving forward.
‘‘It means we aren’t worrying about recent bad results, we are back on track and can focus fully on having a competitive, fast rally here in Finland.’’
There are two other components contributing to why Paddon likes his chances of doing just that.
Finland is his favourite WRC event, at least while New Zealand continues its push to host the championship for the first time since 2012.
The rally-mad Scandinavian nation’s fast, flowing roads which are the reason for that are also ideally suited to the Hyundai he drives. With this year set to be his seventh Rally Finland, Paddon said it had started to feel like a second home rally.
‘‘We have a lot of experience here and feel very comfortable. We really enjoy the stages, really nice and flowing with lots of jumps.
‘‘It is very similar to some parts back home in New Zealand ... you simply don’t get any better than you get on the rollercoaster ride that you have on these undulating Finnish stages.
‘‘We had a really good test over the weekend and confirmed some settings with the car. It is working really well in the fast sections and obviously this is a fast rally.’’
Paddon’s one disadvantage is the configuration of this year’s Finnish event. The route is 43 per cent different to last year and his early exit means he missed most of the stages that are unchanged, making the pre-rally reconnaissance with co-driver John Kennard more important than usual. On such fast roads which feature so many crests and jumps, Paddon said having the right information and taking the right line was ‘‘absolutely crucial’’.
But having completed many of the stages in 2014 and some key factors shaping in a favourable manner, he wasn’t predicting a repeat of the ‘get it to the finish’ approach from Poland.
‘‘The aim is to try and compete up near the front. If we could push for another podium that’d be a [great result].
‘‘At the same time there is probably another eight or nine competitors capable of winning this rally so the competition is going to be very hot.’’