HAYDEN PADDON

There are times this week when Kiwis Hayden Paddon and John Kennard will swear they’re back home on the South Island – and this has nothing to do with the levels of rainfall Wales and Geraldine enjoy. New Zealand’s not all about big cambers and super-smooth wide roads. There are stacks of forest stages littering the land of the long white cloud and the surface and nature of those stages is similar at both ends of the Earth: between the trees is between the trees. Paddon loves these kind of roads and is overdue a return to the sharp end. Since winning Argentina, he’s only been on the podium (Poland, third) once. Driving for the Hyundai N team, he’ll be free to do his own thing without worrying about manufacturer points.