Paddon confident of better placings
Hayden Paddon says more topfive finishes are possible in this year’s World Rally Championship when the pieces of the puzzle come together.
After a horror weekend on Rally Argentina roads, New Zealand’s best rally driver took a deep breath and guided his Hyundai i20 car to sixth and seventh fastest on the final two 16-kilometre runs through the famed El Condor roads.
It lifted him up to a still-disappointing 16th overall as Northern Irishman Kris Meeke won his first ever WRC event, but the day was a relief after the drama of the ones before.
Paddon had top-five pace, but was forced to retire on both Saturday and Sunday (NZ time).
Firstly mechanical issues wrecked his rally, with a broken gearbox mount turning into a broken exhaust manifold, forcing him out of day two.
Then the following day a small kicker jump saw him land on his side wheels near the edge of the road and careen into a crowd of spectators watching the ninth stage.
Six were injured, none life-threateningly, and the stage was abandoned as medical staff treated the injured and took them away.
While the crash itself was small, it had the potential to put a serious dent in the confidence of the Geraldine driver, which was why he chose to get back behind the wheel immediately to finish the rally off on Monday.
‘‘It was obviously a difficult day, but it was good to get back in the car and get some miles, and try to build on some confidence again,’’ Paddon said at the finish.
‘‘It was just important to bring the car home which we’ve done and now we can try and look forward to Portugal.’’
Before the Rally of Portugal in a month’s time Paddon and co-driver John Kennard return to New Zealand where they will contest the Otago Classic Rally on the weekend of May 8.
Rally Argentina had been difficult, but no more difficult than expected, he said.
‘‘We had planned to take it nice and easy this weekend knowing that conditions were rough.
‘‘Some things just unfortunately didn’t work out.
‘‘We know when all the pieces of the puzzle come together that we can be competitive up the front so we’ll take what we can from this one and move on.’’