‘No choice’ for estonia-bound pad don
Hayden Paddon won’t be drawn into any kind of competition with rivals Ott Tanak or Craig Breen in Estonia this weekend – Hyundai’s Kiwi star is adamant his time in Tartu is all about testing.
The New Zealander is making his debut at Rally Estonia and says his focus is firmly on Finland a fortnight down the road.
“I had the choice to do a test or compete on this event (Estonia),” Paddon told MN. “For me it was an easy one. When you are testing you are up and down the same stretch of road all the time, but on an event you’re seeing different roads and it’s not often we get the chance to do this sort of thing.
“The result is not important at all; we won’t be setting the car up for Estonia, we’re doing this definitely with an eye to Finland. It’s a perfect chance to get use to the speed and to get used to the pacenotes coming that bit faster.”
Paddon’s Hyundai colleagues Thierry Neville and Andreas Mikkelsen will test the i20 Coupe WRC in Finland next week, with the potential for running new parts at round seven.
Team principal Michel Nandan told MN: “We have a joker coming for the centre differential, but we still don’t know if we will apply [for the joker] for Finland. We have to decide if it’s ready or not. We have tested already, but it needs to be confirmed, if not then it will come later.”