No regrets for Paddon after high-speed crash
Hayden Paddon is out of hospital and vowing to be fit for his next World Rally Championship (WRC) assignment.
Paddon, 31, spent a night in hospital for observation following a high-impact crash during SS7 of Rally de Portugal on Saturday morning.
He was able to exit the car himself but was suffering lower back pain and was airlifted to a hospital in Porto.
In a social media post, Paddon said he was ‘‘obviously very disappointed’’ but has no regrets.
‘‘At this level, the margins are so small and if we want to take it easy and drive round all the rocks/holes/bumps etc then we are outside the top 10.
‘‘Modern day WRC is flat out and our apex of the corner was comprised by 10-15cm – that’s the margins we are talking, but at the same time, why we all love the WRC.’’
Paddon was forced to go wide around a concealed corner to avoid a rock on the inside of the road but struck a culvert on the outside of the corner that brought his Hyundai i20 Coupe to a sudden stop.
The crash was a tough pill to swallow for Paddon who was leading the rally – on the back of two stage wins – at the time of the accident.
Paddon’s co-driver Seb Marshall was not injured in the crash.
The impact was on Paddon’s side of the car. Paddon said he expects, with some rest and recuperation, that he will be ready to go for Rally Italia Sardegna between June 7-10 and is feeling positive following the speed they were able to display in six stages in Portugal.
Paddon was not the only driver to come unstuck on the gruelling roads.
WRC drivers’ championship leader Sebastien Ogier, Ott Ta¨nak, Jari-Matti Latvala and Paddon’s teammate Andreas Mikkelsen all crashed out of contention during a hectic day on the roads near the Spanish border.
The carnage continued yesterday with British driver Kris Meeke also suffering a violent crash.
Paddon’s Hyundai Motorsport teammate Thierry Neuville leads Rally de Portugal – heading into the final day – with a 39.8sec advantage.