News
Hayden Paddon and his New Zealand World Rally Team (NZWRT) have announced they’ll host two official rally tours for fans to see the star Kiwi rally driver in action during 2012.
The special team tours cover Rally New Zealand, running 21 to 24 June, and Rally Spain, running 8 to 11 November, which wraps up Paddon’s first season of competition in the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC).
Run by Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd representatives, Katie Lane and travel expert Gavin Findlay, the two NZWRT tours promise to take fans behind the scenes while witnessing one of the best motor sports in the world.
“We ran our first rally team tour to Rally Australia last year,” says Paddon, who’s now based in Montgat, north of Barcelona in Spain so ready to contest the SWRC in a Skoda Fabia S2000 rally car.
“The tour to Australia was really successful and everyone involved had a great time. It was particularly special for me and my co-driver John Kennard to have a big contingent of New Zealand supporters with us when we secured the Production World Rally Championship title on Australian soil.
“This year, we’re offering two tours for our New Zealand and Spanish WRC events. They’re both significant events in our SWRC campaign. New Zealand, obviously, because it’s our home event and it’s going to be brilliant to be rallying on roads I know so well in our new S2000 Skoda, which is a wicked car. Spain will be our final event of the season and hopefully where we’ll have the opportunity to win another world rally title.”
The Rally New Zealand tour has two packages – standard and gold – offering accommodation, dedicated tour bus and experienced guide, rally passes, team clothing and the opportunity to share meals with Paddon, Kennard and the team. The gold package includes half a day of rally viewing by helicopter.
Full details of the Rally Spain package are still being confirmed, but Paddon expects it to be very similar to Rally New Zealand with a combination of accommodation, fantastic rally viewing and opportunities to spend time with the team. The Spanish event is based in Salou, an hour south of Barcelona, and consists of one day of gravel followed two days of tarmac.
Those interested in finding out more about the New Zealand World Rally Team tours are invited to visit the rally tours page of www.haydenpaddon.com or email katie@paddonrallysport.co.nz.
“Both rally tours are open to fans from all over the world. With the experienced drivers from Rally Tours NZ, who are passionate rally fans themselves, at the wheel, our tour parties can simply enjoy a premium way to catch the best rally action,” says Paddon. “Fans may also like to check out www.rallytours.co.nz to see the amazing array of rally tours offered by Greg Paul and his team at Rally Tours NZ.”
Paddon is currently preparing to test the Skoda with his new Spanish team ASM Motorsport before commencing the first of eight SWRC events in Sweden on 9 February. Paddon’s 2012 campaign is supported by PlaceMakers, Giltrap Group, Skoda, CameronSea and Airfreight, Granger Design, Castrol, Raiseys, New Balance, Pope Print, Racetech, Chicane Racewear, Endless Brake Pads, 1 Group web design and Brita Safety.
The team shares news, images and results via the website www.haydenpaddon.com, text updates, Twitter and Facebook.
Hayden Paddon, the Kiwi world rally champion is excited to be starting a new chapter in his rallying career as he prepares to depart for Spain next week.
The down-to-earth 24-year-old from Geraldine will soon be living in the coastal town of Montgat to the north of Barcelona, not far from his new team ASM Motorsport, which has built and will run the Skoda Fabia S2000 rally car Paddon will pilot in the 2012 FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship.
With a new team, a new car and a new championship to try and win, Paddon can draw on the confidence that comes from partnering with his talented and experienced co-driver, John Kennard, for the seventh consecutive season of ever-more competitive rallying. Paddon also takes a slice of home with him to Spain – his partner Katie moves with him to take on a larger support role with Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd, the company behinds Paddon’s campaign to drive in and, one day, win the World Rally Championship title.
In the meantime, Paddon’s head isn’t up in the clouds – he remains as focused as ever on improving and developing as a driver and as a professional.
“From a results perspective, our goal for year is obviously to win SWRC,” says Paddon in the days before he flew to Europe. “And in terms of other professional goals, it’s to keep learning and developing. Every rally we go to, I try to work on my driving as well as everything I do in and out of the car. Every rally we come away from, we analyse what we’ve done, take one thing and improve on that for the next one. So, with John, the team and the company, we’ll keep doing all those things this year as we have for the past seven.”
Paddon continually seeks to get as much experience out of each rally as he can, to build more and stronger relationships with people competing in and managing WRC teams, and this year, he’s got a new car, new competitors and a new championship to take into account.
“Essentially we’re trying to build on our previous year’s efforts,” says the New Zealand who made history by being the first person from the Southern Hemisphere to win the Production World Rally Championship title. “We want to bring more intensity and more speed to it all to try and show that perhaps we do have what it takes to go all the way.”
Paddon acknowledges there’s some challenge driving the new category of car, the more powerful Skoda Fabia S2000-spec ar. “But in saying that, when I test drive the Skoda last year, within about one or two kilometres of being in it, I just got on and drove it. Once you got the helmet on, it’s the same as when we went from the Mitsubishi to the Subaru, you learn what the strengths of the car are and get on and drive it. I don’t think it will be a problem at all.
“Actually, the biggest consideration is that our first round in Sweden – from 9 to 12 February – is the only WRC event I haven’t done before and it’s on snow, so those two things are going to be more challenging than actually learning the car. It’s a great car.”
Paddon says the aim for Sweden is to get a comfortable set-up. He has around 100 kilometres of testing scheduled in Spain the week after he arrives and will then get a short test on Swedish roads near the WRC event’s Karlstad base.
“After Sweden we have a proper two-day test on gravel before our first gravel rally in Portugal. With that test and gravel being the surface I’m most familiar with, I know I want a car to do on that surface and will be able to focus a lot more on the set-up then. We’ll also have an extensive tarmac test later in the year as well smaller shakedown tests on the Monday before each event. I’m always keen to make the most of these pre-event tests – because you get to set the car up for the conditions and you’re in the car 2-3 days, driving at full speed, before the event. At the heart of this is the fact that ASM Motorsport is very keen for us to do as well as we can this year and to do as much testing as we can manage financially.”
Paddon is pleased with how the connection with a new team is progressing. “Alex, who heads ASM, is great and the team’s really good; really passionate. Coming from a family team background, I guess it’s been a bit hard for me to let go of all the car and team management, because I do like being involved with all aspects, but I am learning to let go and focus more on the driving and training side of things.
“However this year, it’s going to be great to my good friend Neil, who’s always been my mechanic, coming over to work with the team at every event and Katie is taking more of a team role too. Obviously we have our directors in New Zealand involved also so there’s still a strong involvement from home. The team allows us quite a lot of input and we’ll be living pretty close to the workshop so I might even find myself in the workshop, trying to figure out how to get more out of the car myself! But realistically as I keep moving forward in the sport, I won’t be able to keep working on cars the way I have done in the past, so I’m getting used to that.”
One of the key things Paddon says he took from his championship-winning year in 2011 was the more time he spent on WRC events, the more accustomed to it all he got.
“It makes a massive difference going back to events for the second or third time. You don’t really even have to think about driving quicker, just having that previous experience makes you subconsciously go quickly. So we have learnt that the experience factor is a really big part of it all and that’s why you have to keep going back and doing the rallies to keep getting the miles.
“Last year, we could see our speed on tarmac certainly improved, and our speed from event to event took steps forward as the season progressed – there were some significant steps in performance pre-Portugal and than another one before Australia. Doing events for the first time isn’t so bad, but it’s certainly easier going back to events you’ve done before, you’ve got that much more confidence and can commit to the pace notes more.”
Similar to the PWRC Paddon contested last year, the Super 2000 World Rally Championship involves contesting seven of eight selected World Rally Championship events. Paddon’s nominated events are Sweden, 9-12 February with ice and snow-covered gravel; Portugal, 29 March to 1 April with gravel roads and hundreds of thousands of fans; Rally New Zealand, 22-24 June with gravel roads, some tarmac and massive hometown support; Finland, 4-7 August with gravel roads and massive high speed ‘yumps’; Great Britain, 13-16 September with gravel, tarmac and a new late summer date; France, 4-7 October with all tarmac stages; and Spain, 8-11 November with a mix of gravel and tarmac to wrap up the season.
Paddon’s 2012 campaign is supported by PlaceMakers, Giltrap Group, Skoda, CameronSea and Airfrieght, Granger Design, Castrol, Raiseys, New Balance, Pope Print, Racetech, Chicane Racewear, Endless Brake Pads, 1 Group web design and Brita Safety.
The team shares news, images and results via the website www.haydenpaddon.com, text updates, Twitter and Facebook.
ENDS/
Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd
Media statement
20 December 2011
Paddon takes next step into Super 2000 WRC
New Zealand's top rally driver, Hayden Paddon along with co-driver John Kennard, has announced he will contest the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship in 2012 in a Skoda Fabia S2000 rally car with the support of new sponsors and a new Spanish team.
Having successfully won the Production World Rally Championship title in 2011 - the first driver from the Southern Hemisphere to ever do so - Paddon is forging ahead with his international competition goals by climbing to the next rung on the ladder of world rallying. The Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC) is the key feeder series for the main game, the FIA World Rally Championship, and it's an important and exciting step forward for the likeable and talented Kiwi.
Paddon's SWRC plan was announced on 20 December 2011 after several months of talks with various European teams and sponsors.
"I am ecstatic about the move to Super 2000; it's a fantastic opportunity," says the 24-year-old from Geraldine. "I was lucky enough to test the Skoda Fabia S2000 in Europe a couple of months ago and it was an incredible car to drive. The S2000 is a full blown racecar and is basically a WRC car without the aero and turbo."
Paddon's car will be run by ASM Motorsport, based in Barcelona, and Paddon with long-time partner Katie Lane will move to the Spanish city.
"Several key personnel at ASM Motorsport have been involved with Skoda and Seat world rally teams in the past and they are very enthusiastic and passionate about this project. The target for the whole team is to win the championship," says Paddon.
One factor in the team's decision to move to the S2000 Skoda is related to the fact that Skoda's parent company Volkswagen has confirmed its entry into the WRC in 2013. VW management signed star French driver Sebastién Ogier last month, confirming Ogier will compete in all rounds of the 2012 WRC in a similar Skoda S2000 car to the one Paddon will drive and thus providing an outstanding benchmark for all SWRC competitors.
"Sebastién is one of the fastest drivers in the WRC at present and having the chance to compete with him will be an honour but also a challenge," says Paddon. "It will help us to lift to another level and while he will be hard to beat, he certainly gives us a good target to aim for."
Blenheim's John Kennard continues as Paddon's co-driver, taking the highly successful rally partnership into its seventh season and ensuring that as Paddon strives to achieve new goals, he can also count on the consistent support and experience of his highly-regarded co-driver.
Paddon's decision to drive a Skoda was also influenced by a new relationship with one of New Zealand's largest motor vehicle importers and retailers, the Giltrap Group.
"It's a great honour to have a new partnership with the Giltrap Group, largely thanks to Colin and Richard Giltrap, who are huge supporters of New Zealand motorsport. The Giltrap Group is also the distributor for Skoda in New Zealand, so there's a natural link with this new partnership."
Paddon has also confirmed a personal sponsorship with PlaceMakers New Zealand, the building supplies company which was a key supporter of his 2011 rallying.
Paddon's goal is to win the SWRC title in 2012. SWRC competitors are required to contest seven of eight selected World Rally Championship events. Paddon has elected to drive the S2000 Skoda in Rally Sweden, Rally Portugal, Rally New Zealand, Rally Finland, Wales Rally GB, Rally France and Rally Spain, dropping the year's first SWRC event, Rally Monte Carlo.
"With Monte Carlo taking place in January, we have given ourselves a little more time to prepare for the next SWRC event, Sweden, which runs from 10 to 12 February. It is also going to be special to have the chance to do Rally New Zealand as one of our rounds and bring our new car home for our supporters to see."
Paddon admits he gave serious thought to moving away from Subaru for his next season of competition, after such a successful year with the Japanese marque in 2011.
"We had a great relationship with Subaru - we have enjoyed phenomenal support from the team which ran our Subaru STI, Symtech Racing, as well as Subaru personnel in New Zealand, Japan and Europe. It was a hard decision to not continue with Subaru, but we have to keep moving forward in the best manner to help make my ultimate goal of winning the World Rally Championship a reality. The next step from where we were was obviously S2000 so that's what we've done."
When Paddon says ‘we', he is referring to the management team which now helps the star Kiwi with his professional rallying career. The team includes four directors along with shareholders of Hayden Paddon RallySport Global Ltd.
HPRG director Peter Swaney notes: "This is a very exciting time for both Hayden and HPRG as we continue to move forward in the WRC. Of course the biggest battle is funding but we are very lucky to have a large group of passionate supporters from New Zealand behind us. The hard work will continue throughout the year and into next year as we continue to look for opportunities to keep the momentum going.
"The formation of HPRG at the start of 2011 has been pivotal in continuing success for Hayden's career and allowing him to follow the dream he and so many of his supporters share. Not all the funding is currently in place for 2012 but the company is working hard to secure this, as well as starting planning for 2013 which will involve Hayden piloting a WRC car. In the meantime, 2012 promises to be an exiting year."
Paddon's 2012 campaign is supported by Giltrap Group, PlaceMakers, Skoda, Cameron Sea and Airfrieght, All About Signs, Granger Design, HTC Sportsworld, Castrol, Raiseys, New Balance and Chicane Racewear.
The team has launched a brand-new website www.haydenpaddon.com to coincide with this SWRC announcement and they also share news and results via text updates, Twitter and Facebook.
ENDS/
For more information, please contact:
Hayden Paddon - hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz, 027 318 1748
Kate Gordon - kate@relishcomm.co.nz, 021 587 227
Hayden Paddon's 2012 SWRC Calendar
Event 1: 9-12 February, Rally Sweden
Event 2: 29 March - 1 April, Rally Portugal
Event 3: 22-24 June, Rally New Zealand
Event 4: 2-5 August, Rally Finland
Event 5: 13-16 September, Wales Rally GB
Event 6: 4-7 October, Rally France
Event 7: 1-4 November, Rally Spain
PADDON STRIVES FOR TOP TEN FINISH AT WRC WALES RALLY GB
There's no easing off the throttle for New Zealand's champion rally driver Hayden Paddon who has two goals at this week's World Rally Championship finale in the United Kingdom.
The 24-year-old gets to secure his record-making World Production Rally Championship title simply by starting the three-day Wales Rally GB on 10 November.
Paddon is also gunning for a top ten finish in the hugely-popular British event, where the Geraldine-based Kiwi will be partnered by co-driver John Kennard from Blenheim, despite driving a brand-new R4-spec Subaru rally car that was completed literally days before the start.
"We are going to push for a top ten finish; it will not be easy, but we will push hard," says Paddon from Wales where he tested the just-finished car on Sunday 7 November (UK time).
"However the main objective of the rally is to get an indication of the performance of the R4 as it is still in its early stages of development and, with more homologated parts being approved for next season, it has the potential to be even faster. It's also about getting some data and information from the event to help STI [Subaru Technica International (STI), the motorsport arm of Japanese Subaru manufacturer Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd] and Symtech Racing [Paddon's Belgium-based team] to continue developing the car."
The fact that Paddon is driving the new R4-spec Subaru indicates the regard in which he is now held by key decision-makers in the rally sport world.
STI sporting manager George Donaldson, who has been managing a small programme of events for the Subaru Impreza R4 this year, said: "The working relationship between Hayden and the Symtech team is terrific, so we can have high hopes of a top performance in this year's final WRC event."
Paddon says he has every confidence in the new R4 Subaru. "The Subaru is a reliable car and all the mechanicals such as engine, gearbox and diffs are out of our championship-winning PWRC car, which we know has been a proven package. It is going to be a matter of re-engineering the suspension geometry which is quite a bit different between the Group N and R4 spec, but knowing that the rest is sorted, we can just focus on that."
The Subaru R4 is a development from the current Group N production car that Paddon has driven this season. Introduced by the FIA to allow two-litre turbocharged Group N cars to compete with existing Super 2000 machinery, the R4 Subaru is around 150kg lighter than the current Group N Subaru STI with more adjustable suspension with greater travel and better geometry and handling.
Paddon and Kennard start Wales Rally GB as 'priority two' or P2 drivers, starting amongst the Super 2000 competitors.
"We won't be earning PWRC points - but no one can beat us there anyway and we have these goals with the R4 we want to achieve. It's an advantage to be seeded further up the field and we're aiming to get closer in pace to the SWRC guys. Although Rally GB is not a round of S2000 World Rally Championship, there are still some really good S2000 drivers here including some locals and the VW test drivers who are using Skodas. The gap between Group N and S2000 is not completely closed with the R4 but it is certainly a step in the right direction and if we can find the sweet spot with the car then we should be able to get much closer."
Paddon finished third among the PWRC competitors at this event in 2010 to secure third place on his debut in the PWRC as one of the five Pirelli Star Drivers. This year, he says, the rally takes a whole new route. "It starts right up in the top of Wales and works its way down through Wales over the three days, with many new stages and some used in previous years. It's the European rally that's most similar to New Zealand - generally a fast and flowing, wet, muddy event with some of the stages offering a lot of grip and some tight sections."
Wales Rally GB runs from 10 to 13 November, covering forest and gravel roads in a wide area around Cardiff.
After the Welsh event, which wraps up the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship season, Paddon returns to New Zealand where he'll participate in a week-long, nation-wide road show with sponsors PlaceMakers and Subaru. Starting in Auckland on 23 November, Paddon will visit many PlaceMakers and Subaru outlets throughout the country to end in Dunedin. "We'll have more details out after Rally GB about which stores we're visiting and the day and time of each visit. There are so many giveaways and prizes; it's going to be really exciting!"
Then, in the second week of December, Paddon heads to the annual FIA gala - in India this year - where he'll be presented with the silverware for his production world rally championship title.
Paddon appreciates the support of his team, his many supporters around New Zealand and across the world and his valued financial partners, which include Subaru New Zealand, EDL Fasteners, PlaceMakers, Van Leeuwen Dairy, Milwaukee, Racetech Seats, Castrol, Dunlop, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Camerons Sea and Air Freight, Endless Brakes, In-tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Reaction Racing, Raiseys Sport Nutrition, Chicane Racewear, RallyTours, Alto Lab, Pope Print, Granger Design, Bluebridge Ferry, 1 Group and Symtech Racing for their support with his 2011
campaign.
The team shares results via text updates, Twitter and Facebook, or visit the website www.haydenpaddon.com [1].
For more information contact Hayden
hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz
+44 7780098280
Paddon confirms Subaru-supported R4 rally car for WRC final
New Zealand’s leading rally driving duo, Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, continue pushing their own competitive boundaries with confirmation they will drive an R4-spec Subaru STI rally car in Wales Rally GB, the final round of their 2011 campaign.
Having secured the 2011 FIA Production World Rally Championship title with two rounds to spare, subject to final confirmation by the FIA, Paddon has been seeking further opportunities to demonstrate his abilities and confirm his plans for next year.
The opportunity to drive the lighter, faster Subaru R4 comes with the support of Subaru Technica International (STI), the motorsport arm of Japanese Subaru manufacturer Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.
The new R4 category was introduced this year by the FIA in a bid to allow two-litre turbocharged Group N cars to compete with existing Super 2000 machinery.
Paddon explains: "The Subaru R4 is the next step in development from the current Group N production car we’ve been driving. In a nutshell
, they are 80kg lighter with some lighter body panels, fabricated sub-
frames and suspension arms which give the car better geometry and handling. They also have more adjustable suspension with greater travel.
"The purpose of the R4 is to bridge the gap to the Super 2000 cars such as the Ford Fiesta S2000 and the Skoda Fabia S2000. It’s still relatively early in the development of the R4 cars, but the aim is to have the Subaru Impreza STI-based R4 rally car as a serious contender to win the Super 2000 World Rally Championship title in 2012."
STI has been managing the Subaru Impreza R4 this year, which has seen the new car competing in selected rounds of the WRC and Intercontinental Rally Challenge with well-respected drivers such as former PWRC champion Toshi Arai and WRC driver PG Anderson. The PWRC continues in 2012, but having won the championship title in his second year in this category, Paddon seeks to step up the World Rally Championship ladder. His involvement with the Subaru R4 project at Wales Rally GB aids this objective as they continue to look at options for 2012 and the future. "This R4 project for Rally GB is supported by Subaru Japan and we’ll be helping them develop the car for the future. "The car and team will be run by our normal team, Symtech Racing from Belgium, who are also building the brand new car. We will have a full day’s testing in the forest before the rally which starts on 10 November. Paddon adds: "Driving an R4 car means John and I become ‘priority two’ or P2 drivers, starting amongst the Super 2000 competitors. We will have no pressure of having to try to secure championship points and we can focus more on developing the car and extracting as much speed as we can
.
"The R4 drive also still fulfils our commitment as a PWRC-registered competitor where we must compete in all six of our nominated events. So even though we’ve stepped up a class, we’re still competing in the event but just not scoring any PWRC points. "We have dual aims for the event – to gauge the performance of the R4 and ourselves against the existing Group N cars and the Super 2000 cars. I’ll also be targeting a top ten finish
.
Paddon continues: "Subaru – in New Zealand and globally with the Subaru Challenge Award – has been a great supporter of our campaign this year. We’ve had a great deal of assistance throughout the season and it’s a privilege for me to now have the support of Subaru Japan and help them develop their new rally machine as the sport of rallying looks to turn another corner. "Our test session in Wales will be very interesting, and despite the short timeframe in which to get everything confirmed, we have a good base set-up from our Group N car to work with our experienced team. The car will be more nimble, lighter and with up to 50mm extra suspension travel
,
we should be able to generate a lot more grip. With its better geometry, we should have a more balanced and faster car."
Dirk Van der Sluys, director of Symtech Racing, says: "This season has been the perfect year for us and both the Subaru and Hayden have done a faultless job. With the championship now wrapped up
, it was a good chance to look at something different for Great Britain and we feel privileged to run Hayden in a Subaru-
supported car and help to develop the R4. This car has been built in a very short space of time but we are confident that it will be very fast for the event and that Hayden will adapt well."
STI sporting manager George Donaldson is also enthusiastic about Paddon’s inaugural R4 drive. "With Hayden having proved himself such a unique and dominant talent
,
it is fantastic for us to encourage both Symtech Racing and Hayden to test the Impreza R4 in Wales Rally GB. Symtech Racing has a long and successful history in the production championship and great experience with Subaru. The working relationship between Hayden and the team is also terrific, so we can have high hopes of a top performance in this year’s final WRC event. We were delighted to have a successful WRC debut of the R4 in Finland where PG Andersson and the Tommi Makinen Racing-run machine finished 15th overall, so we are looking forward to another positive outcome in Wales with Hayden and Symtech."
Wales Rally GB runs from 10 to 13 November, covering forest and gravel roads in a wide area around Cardiff. Paddon has started the famous Welsh event twice – in 2007 he only managed five kilometres of the first stage, while in 2010 he fought back from mechanical woes to finish third in class. Paddon appreciates the support of his team, his many supporters around New Zealand and across the world and his valued financial partners, which include Subaru New Zealand, EDL Fasteners, CR Properties, Placemakers, Van Leeuwen Dairy, Milwaukee, Racetech Seats, Castrol, Dunlop, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Camerons Sea and Air Freight, Endless Brakes, In-tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Reaction Racing, Raiseys Sport Nutrition, Chicane Racewear, RallyTours, Alto Lab, Pope Print, Granger Design, Bluebridge Ferry, 1 Group and Symtech Racing for their support with his 2011 campaign. The team shares results via text updates, Twitter and Facebook, or visit the website . Attached images from Rally Spain are free to use for editorial purposes. Please credit Honza Fronek. 2011 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (For Drivers) After Round 5
1, Hayden Paddon (NZL) Subaru Impreza – 104 points
2, Patrik Flodin (SWE) Subaru Impreza – 59
3,
Michal Ko?ciuszko (POL) Mitsubishi Lancer – 58 4, Martin Semerád (CZE) Mitsubishi Lancer – 51 5, Benito Guerra (MEX) Mitsubishi Lancer – 47 For more information, please contact: Hayden Paddon –
, 021 587 227
No Let-up for Paddon at Rally Spain
Hayden Paddon is New Zealand's first-ever world rally champion, but there's no let-up for the 24-year-old as he heads to Rally de Espana which runs from 20 to 23 October.
The Geraldine-based world champion still has much to prove on the tarmac and gravel mixed surface of the Spanish World Rally Championship event as he strives to further his international rallying career.
"John [Kennard, Paddon's Blenheim-based co-driver] and I haven't contested Rally Spain before, which is our second-to-last WRC event for this season. I was a spectator there last year and know the tarmac stages are more like a series of race tracks,'' Paddon said.
"In fact, this event is unique in that we run one day on a mix of gravel and tarmac and two days on all tarmac stages, so that's challenging in terms of my driving style and what our team, Symtech Racing, needs to do in setting up our Subaru rally car.''
Paddon said he's done no competitive time on tarmac stages since Rally France 12 months ago.
After winning the Production World Rally Championship title in Australia in September, Paddon headed back to Europe for September 29 to October 2 for the running of Rally France where he was helped American star Ken Block with his stage notes.
"It was great to be involved with Ken's world rally team for a short time and I really enjoyed it. It was also great to further familiarise ourselves with the French roads _ excellent for next year - and I also learned a lot about the notes that only WRC teams receive for tarmac events which highlight how the roads change between each pass. This knowledge will certainly help John and me heading into Spain.''
Paddon says he's still going all out to win again in Spain after winning the PWRC class of all four events he's contested this year, a history-making feat which secured the Kiwi the PWRC title with two rounds in-hand.
"We will try and win, but there are plenty of unknowns around what our fellow production category competitors are like on tarmac. This is the only tarmac event on the PWRC calendar this year, and along with the usual quick contenders like Patrik Flodin, Martin Semerd and Michal Kosciuszko, there are some fast Spanish drivers. However, our pace was good on tarmac in France and Germany last year so we will push hard to improve on that.''
In Spain, Paddon and Kennard complete reconnaissance of the rally stages on Tuesday and Wednesday before Thursday's full-speed official shakedown run. In the rally itself, they tackle 18 special stages over a competitive distance of 406.52 kilometres inland of Salou, comprising six stages on each of the three days from Friday to Sunday.
As well as counting as the 12th round of the 13-event WRC season, RallyRACC-Rally de Espana is the final event of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship and the penultimate round of the Production Car World Rally Championship.
2011 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (For Drivers)
After Round 4
1, Hayden Paddon (NZL) Subaru Impreza _ 100 points
2, Martin Semerd (CZE) Mitsubishi Lancer _ 50
3, Valeriy Gorban (UKR) Mitsubishi Lancer _ 38
4, Michal Kosciuszko (POL) Mitsubishi Lancer _ 35
5, Patrik Flodin (SWE) Subaru Impreza _ 34
Paddon and Kennard - 2011 PWRC World Champions!
New Zealand's top rally driver Hayden Paddon created motorsport history today in becoming the 2011 FIA Production World Rally Champion after winning the production category at Rally Australia.
Paddon becomes the first person in the Southern Hemisphere to ever win a world rally championship, taking the 2011 PWRC title with four consecutive category wins - another new record set by the talented Kiwi in his second PWRC season.
He still has two PWRC events to contest this season but, with a perfect score of 100 points to his credit, the Subaru driver can't be beaten.
"I can't believe it, it's incredible!" Paddon said at the prize-giving.
"Rally Australia wasn't an easy rally at all for us, but we made it. Twelve months ago I was back home in New Zealand with no money, no sponsors and we didn't even think we would be able to do the PWRC. We found the sponsors, we found a car and a team and now we're here after a stunning year. And for sure there's still a lot to come. We'll try as hard as we can to come back next year in something bigger and better."
The 24-year-old's successful weekend in the forests and gravel roads around Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales coast was topped off by scooping eight WRC points for finishing sixth overall, a phenomenal feat in a Group N production car.
Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, from Geraldine and Blenheim respectively, started Rally Australia with 75 points on the championship points-table. His closest rival, Czech Martin Semerad, has 50 points, but didn't nominate Australia as one of his six PWRC events. Swedish driver Patrik Flodin was third on the leader-board with 34 points, but also skipped Australia. This left Polish driver Michel Kosciuszko as the competitor most likely to challenge Paddon for PWRC points.
Thursday evening's opening two runs around the harbour-side super special stage saw Paddon take it gently and Kosciuszko set the quickest times. But come Friday morning Paddon stormed through the rain-slicked, ultra-slippery stages, sealing a clean sweep of stage wins in the morning loop to build a 55.6s second lead over second-placed Kosciuszko. The unexpected rain made the afternoon stages a pure endurance test for all competitors, including Paddon, who said: "The clay-based roads were treacherously slippery."
Paddon tackled the second loop of three stages with his usual consistency and, despite easing off due to the adverse road conditions, extended his lead and finished Friday with a 1m, 22s margin over Kosciuszko who was unable to match the 2010 Pirelli Star Driver's relentless pace.
Day two, Saturday, dawned fine and sunny with perfect road conditions.
"Saturday's first stage started well until 3km from the end when the turbo pipe blew apart and we lost all power. We tried to make roadside repairs between each of the remaining three stages before service, but to no avail. We lost over two minutes to Michel, who took the PWRC class lead, and arrived back at service over 50 seconds behind him. With repairs made, we attacked on the repeated afternoon stages."
Paddon wasn't about to let his dreams of sealing the championship on his home continent fade. He whipped through the afternoon stages, clocking four stage wins to take the lead back from Kosciuszko by just 1s on SS18, the last gravel stage of the day.
Sunday and the rally's final day saw the Kiwi star rebuild a comfortable 51.3s lead on the opening loop of three stages before cruising through the final three stages to bring home his fourth consecutive event win and the provisional PWRC crown. Officials note that while Martin Semerad can still draw level with Paddon by winning the final two events of the season. However, the Czech would still lose the title on count-back, leaving Paddon the champion.
Paddon was also awarded the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally for his record-breaking achievements.
When asked how hard was it for him, as a young Kiwi driver, to make his way into the World Rally Championship, Paddon replied: "It has definitely been hard. Possum Bourne was a rally legend in New Zealand for a long time and along with a lot of other people, I looked up to him and when he passed away rallying took a bit of a hit back home. There has never been a set pathway for Kiwi drivers to make their way to the WRC, so that has been the hardest thing. Also finding the budget has always been an issue, there are some big companies in New Zealand but with the global crisis it is hard to find financial back-up.
"Having said that, the team at Subaru has been really supportive to us and they helped us to make the move from our long-time association with Mitsubishi to drive a Subaru this season. They make a big effort in the PWRC backing up teams and drivers. The Belgian team that is working with us - Symtech Racing - is very passionate and enthusiastic and they did a fantastic job this year, as has the loyal Kiwi crew who are here with me this weekend to run our New Zealand-owned CR Properties/Placemakers Subaru."
Paddon and Kennard head back to Europe late in October to contest Rally Spain in the Symtech Racing-built Subaru before wrapping up their current season at Rally Great Britain in November. Plans for 2012 are still to be decided as Paddon and his New Zealand World Rally Team continue to seek commercial partners and the right deal to progress Paddon's stellar career.
Paddon in with chance of winning PWRC title in Australia
Top Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon heads to next weekend’s World Rally Championship event in Australia with the history-making chance of becoming the first ever competitor from the Southern Hemisphere to win a world rally title. This is huge.
The 24-year-old from Geraldine, will be rolling with his Blenheim-based co-driver John Kennard and is understandably excited about the possibility of wrapping up the 2011 FIA Production World Rally Championship at Rally Australia. The event will be running in the Coffs Coast region of New South Wales next weekend, from 8 to 11 September. But the Kiwi team know they have a job to do and that’s to finish the event, and finish well.
“If we win the production class in Australia in our CR Properties/Placemakers Subaru STI, we win the title, which would certainly be a dream come true,” says Paddon who finished third in the PWRC last year. “But we are not getting too far ahead of ourselves. First, we have a rally to run.”
The 2011 season has seen the two-time New Zealand rally champion win all three PWRC events he has contested in Portugal, Argentina and Finland. The Portuguese victory was particularly significant – not only was it the first rally for Paddon’s newly-formed New Zealand World Rally Team which works with Belgium-based Symtech Racing to run a production specification Subaru in six world rally events, but also because Paddon and Kennard delivered the largest winning margin – 7 minutes, 39.3 seconds – in PWRC history.
After Rally Finland in July, Paddon currently tops the PWRC leader-board with 75 points. His closest rival, Czech Martin Semerad, has 50 points, but won’t be competing in Australia – Semerad hasn’t nominated Australia as one of his six PWRC events. Third-placed Swedish driver Patrik Flodin, with 34 points, is also skipping Australia. Paddon, Semerad and Flodin will campaign the final two PWRC events of the year in Spain and Great Britain, but with 25 points for the category winner up for grabs in Australia, Paddon may secure the title with two rounds left to go.
As always, Paddon has a plan for how he intends to approach the rally. “Because we do have a buffer in the championship it means we can just concentrate on going flat-out in Australia and trying to make more of an impression based on our outright speed. If we can do that, then the rest will fall into place.”
Paddon will be watching other production category competitors like Polish ace Michal Kosciuszko and Finnish driver Jukka Ketomaki who is driving Paddon’s championship-winning, New Zealand-based Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.
“The two Australians, Brendan Reeves and Nathan Quinn, will pose the biggest challenge as they’ll have some knowledge of the roads around Coffs Harbour which are used in the Australian national championship, but haven’t been used for a WRC event before.
“Any of these drivers could take PWRC points away from me, but on the other hand, I’ve beaten them all before, so we’ll just have to run our own rally and see how it all comes together from there.”
Rally Australia takes in 368.96km of competitive stages, starting with two runs of the Coffs Harbour super special stage on Thursday evening, before heading north and south over the following three days.
Paddon says running on unfamiliar roads brings its own challenges. “But I have always enjoyed new events as it’s more about John’s and my ability to prepare good pace notes during reconnaissance, rather than knowledge of the roads. We don’t know exactly what the roads are like, but I think we can expect a few to be pretty fast.”
Paddon and Kennard arrived in Coffs Harbour on Sunday to prepare for the reconnaissance runs through all the rally’s special stages on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, they get a full speed shakedown run in the CR Properties/Placemakers Subaru STI before joining in the official start celebrations and tackling the fan-friendly evening sprints around the super special stage right in the heart of Coffs Harbour. The rally proper begins on Friday morning with two runs through three rural stages before repeating the harbour-side super special stage on Friday evening. Saturday’s schedule comprises two runs through four rural stages before yet another round of harbour-side super special stage action between 6 and 8pm. The event wraps up on Sunday with two runs through three rural stages north of Coffs Harbour before returning to the ceremonial finish at 5:30 on Sunday evening.
PADDON WINS PWRC IN RALLY FINLAND New Zealand's top rally driver Hayden Paddon, with co-driver John Kennard, has won the Production World Rally Championship category of Rally Finland and taken a commanding lead in 2011 production championship. With PWRC category wins in Portugal and Argentina already to his credit this year, 24-year-old Paddon, from Geraldine, said: "This has been a dream start to the season and to win in Finland - which is such a famous WRC event - is amazing! Of course, there is still a long way to go to win the 2011 PWRC title and we have to take it one rally at a time with our next one being Rally Australia in September. "We now also have a healthy 25 point lead in the championship, with the next two competitors behind us in the championship missing the next round in Australia. We're absolutely over the moon!" Paddon and Kennard, in their Symtech Racing-prepared Subaru STI rally car, came through the first short leg of Rally Finland in third place among the production category competitors. By the end of the second day, closest competitors Swedish driver Patrik Flodin and Finn Jarkko Nikara faltered while Paddon and Kennard showed both their trademark consistency and true commitment to the high speed needed to win in Finland to take the category lead. The Kiwis had a 54.4s margin over local Finn and wildcard entrant Mikko Pajunen going into the third and longest day on Saturday. "We started today with nearly one minute's advantage, but soon discovered that local driver, Jarkko Nikara, was closing quickly. At the midday service we had to try and lift our pace to keep him behind. We pushed very hard on the first afternoon stage and, combined with Nikara having problems, we were able to stretch the lead to back over one minute with just four stages remaining. Over those four stages we took it a lot easier as the roads had become rough and we had to protect the car." Paddon finished with a margin of 40.2 s over Nikara while Flodin was more than a minute adrift in third. In the overall Rally Finland standings, Paddon was 19th. "I came here wanting to be on the podium, so to leave here with maximum points is a great feeling. I've not won many stages but I've been consistently fast over the whole weekend and certainly there is more pace to come," said Paddon who swapped from Mitsubishi to Subaru this season. "I'm still learning the car and the new events." Paddon's closest rival on the PWRC points-table, Martin Semerad, was forced to retire after a car fire on Friday morning. After Rally Finland, Paddon tops the PWRC leader-board with 75 points with three events still to complete: Australia, Spain and Great Britain. Semerad is second with 50 points and has only two events remaining - PWRC competitors select six of the seven specified World Rally Championship rounds and Semerad contested the season-opener in Sweden, while Paddon did not. Flodin holds third with 34 points, and he too, is not heading to Australia where Paddon has already won the PWRC class last year. Paddon added: "A huge thanks to the whole Symtech team who have outdone themselves once again and to everyone back home that has been supporting us." Paddon would like to thank the continued support he gets from his loyal partners, which include Subaru New Zealand, EDL Fasteners, CR Properties, Placemakers, Racetech Seats, Castrol, Dunlop, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Camerons Sea and Air Freight, Endless brakes, In-tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Reaction Racing, Raiseys Sport Nutrition, Chicane Racewear, RallyTours, Alto Lab, Pope Print, Granger Design, Bluebridge Ferry, 1 Group and Symtech Racing. The team shares results via text updates, Twitter and Facebook, or visit the website
www.haydenpaddon.com
[1].
PADDON FIRED UP FOR FINNISH WRC RALLY
Ace Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon starts this weekend's Rally
Finland atop the Production World Rally Championship standings and
determined to repeat last year's production category podium finish in
the spectacularly fast rally.
Last year, Paddon, from Geraldine, and co-driver John Kennard, from
Blenheim, contested the Finnish WRC event for the first time as part
of their Pirelli Star Driver programme, finishing a very well-placed
third among production category competitors.
This year, the ambitious 24-year-old Kiwi aims to at least repeat
last year's performance during the hugely popular 28 to 30 July rally.
?
"Getting on the podium is a minimum. Of course, we'll be trying for
more," said Paddon after testing his Symtech Racing-built Subaru STI
rally car on Sunday 24 July with other PWRC and Super 2000 World Rally
Championship competitors.
"Finland is going to be a very tough event but it is good to come
back to an event we have prior experience of, having done the event
last year
"Last year I made the mistake of being too conservative with the pace
notes, so this year I know we can attack the roads and crests a lot
more."
Having finished second in the International Rally of Whangarei just
days before he flew out to Europe, Paddon is drawing on the fact he
had to push hard for the whole two-day Asia Pacific Rally Championship
event as he tried to chase down the outright winner Australian Chris
Atkinson.
"Having to drive flat out in Whangarei was good preparation for
Finland. On some of the other events we've only had to consolidate our
position and not battle all the way to the finish.
"The high-speed nature of the Finnish roads suits me. I have always
enjoyed the fast stages, and some of the stages here are absolutely
flat out."
Naturally, Paddon would like to win the PWRC class in Finland as he
has successfully done at this year's two earlier PWRC events in
Portugal and Argentina. "But this is the hardest rally to try and do
that on when you take into account the experience of our fellow
competitors and also the fast wildcard local entries. A podium is a
minimum, but we will be trying for more!"
WRC commentators say that being successful on Rally Finland requires
'sisu', which loosely translates into English as 'having guts', plus
extremely accurate pace notes for negotiating the smooth and compact
gravel tracks.
Paddon said Sunday's test was helpful as he and the Belgium-based
Symtech team have been struggling with the rear of the car all season.
"After some lessons learnt at Rally Whangarei, we now think we have
some answers. Here it is crucial to have a car that has good grip but
is also stable so you can keep up the speed in the very fast corners.
Any hesitation equals time lost down the next straight."
Sunday's test was cut short as the road was cutting up, so Paddon and
Kennard will use Thursday morning's shakedown session to confirm some
final changes to the Subaru after completing three days of
reconnaissance, Monday through Wednesday, in a regular road car.
Rally Finland is based in the university city of Jyvaskyla in the
centre of the country. Described as a flat-out all-gravel contest,
Paddon and Kennard face charging through tree-lined straights and
flying over blind crests during the 314.39 kilometres of competitive
rallying divided into 22 special stages. Several of the stages have
changed for this year's rally, with five stages previously unused and
a move south on Friday to roads around Lahti in order to tap into
larger areas of population.
The rally officially starts at 4pm on Thursday, 28 July with three
evening stages. The schedule for the next two days is intense with
eight stages on Friday and 11 stages on Saturday before the 9pm finish
that evening.
Paddon goes into Rally Finland with 50 points in the 2012 FIA
Production World Rally Championship, equal with Czech driver Martin
Semerád. Paddon is ranked above the Mitsubishi driver as he has
contested one less event so far this year than Semerád. After
Finland, Paddon heads to PWRC rounds in Australia, Spain and Great
Britain, while Semerád drops the Australian event.
Paddon would like to thank the continued support he gets from his
loyal partners, which include Subaru New Zealand, EDL Fasteners, CR
Properties, Racetech Seats, Castrol, Dunlop, Radio Sport, Radio
Hauraki, Camerons Sea and Air Freight, Endless brakes, In-tune
Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Reaction Racing,
Raiseys Sport Nutrition, Chicane Racewear, RallyTours, Alto Lab, Pope
Print, Granger Design, Bluebridge Ferry, 1 Group and Symtech Racing.
The team shares results via text updates, Twitter and Facebook, or
visit the website
www.haydenpaddon.com
[1].
http://www.haydenpaddon.com/
[2]
mailto:hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz
[3]
mailto:kate@relishcomm.co.nz
Category-winning run for Paddon in Whangarei
New Zealand’s top rally pairing, Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, has won the New Zealand Rally Championship category in the International Rally of Whangarei with a hard-fought second place overall. Paddon earned maximum NZRC points from the two-day event in his CR Properties/Placemakers Subaru STI while setting a string of Group N standard production class stage records on the back country gravel roads south west of Whangarei.
Paddon, from Geraldine, and Kennard, from Blenheim, have won the event three times previously, but this time the outright honours went to former World Rally Championship driver Australian Chris Atkinson. The Whangarei event is the third time this year Paddon has won a round of the New Zealand Rally Championship. He has also won both the rounds of the 2011 FIA Production World Rally Championship he has started in Portugal and Argentina. His next event is the Finland round of the world series at the end of this month. "The stages were very slippery on Sunday morning," said Paddon. "The car was sliding around a bit too much. We made some suspension changes for the afternoon. It was better and we went faster, but so did Chris (Atkinson)
.
"It was a good weekend. We’ve had to push hard for the whole rally," said the 24-year-old. "It was good preparation for our next PWRC event Finland. On some of the other events we’ve only had to consolidate our position and not battle all the way to the finish."
The rally started well for the team, winning the first two stages and moving out to a 30 second lead. But at the end of the second stage, a small mistake costed them the lead.
"We ran a little wide on a short right hand corner. The impact bent the suspension and steering arms in the front. The time loss on that particular stage was minimal due to it being one of the last corners. We made road side repairs, but the steering arm completely broke in the next stage and we had to cruise so we could get to service to make repairs" commented Hayden.
The 50 second time loss dropped them back to second and from there on were playing catch up. In the end Paddon fell 12 seconds despite pushing hard on Day 2.
"It was a very enjoyable event and the fight we had with Chris was a fantastic. It is also great preparation for Finland where the competition promises to be fast. We also know we have some key areas to still work on with the car set-up which we are working hard on to improve".
Paddon has reduced Richard Mason’s lead in the national series with his perfect haul of points from Whangarei, where Mason was second among the local competitors and third overall. In the national series, Mason has had his points lead reduced to 26 points from Paddon, with another Subaru driver Emma Gilmour still third. The final round in the Hawke’s Bay, originally scheduled for next month
,
is likely to be postponed until the first weekend in October. Paddon and Gilmour’s efforts have already netted Subaru the manufacturer’s title with a round to spare as it is an unbeatable 141 ahead of Mitsubishi.
Paddon would like to thank the continued support he gets from his loyal partners, which include CR Properties, Placemakers, Subaru New Zealand, EDL Fasteners, Racetech Seats, Castrol, Dunlop, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Camerons Sea and Air Freight, Endless brakes, In-tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Reaction Racing, Raiseys Sport Nutrition, Chicane Racewear, RallyTours, Alto Lab, Pope Print, Granger Design, Bluebridge Ferry, 1 Group and Symtech Racing. The team shares results via text updates, Twitter and Facebook, or visit the website
www.haydenpaddon.com
.
ENDS/
2011 International Rally of Whangarei - overall results top-ten – provisional
Pos, No., Driver/Co-Driver, Vehicle, Country, Time
1, 2, Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot, Proton Satria Neo S2000, AUS/BEL, 3:01:26.9
2, 24, Hayden Paddon/John Kennard, Subaru STI, NZ/NZ, +12.4
3, 6, Richard Mason/Sara Mason, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X, NZ/NZ, +1:48.1
4, 25, Chris West/Erin Kyle, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, NZ/NZ, +2:47.0
5, 7, Emma Gilmour/Ben Atkinson, Subaru STI, NZ/AUS, +3:25.2
6, 5, Brendan Reeves/Rhianon Smyth, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, AUS/AUS, +3:41.0
7, 4, Alister McRae/Bill Hayes, Proton Satria Neo S2000, GBR/AUS, +3:55.2
8, 28, Kingsley Thompson/John Allen, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X, NZ/AUS, +4:31.7
9, 27, Glenn Inkster/Glenn Goldring, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, NZ/NZ, +9:27.5
10, 12, Subhan Aksa/Hade Mboi, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, IDN/IDN, +9:30.7
Brian Green Property Group in association with Neil Allport Motorsports New Zealand Rally Championship overall Goldstar points – top five after round four (of five) – provisional
1, Richard Mason, Masterton, 410
2, Hayden Paddon, Geraldine, 384
3, Emma Gilmour, Dunedin, 322
4, Chris West, Timaru, 280
5, Glenn Inkster, Auckland, 247
NZRC Manufacturers’ Championship
1, Subaru, 420
2, Mitsubishi, 279
3, Ford, 158
For more information, please contact:
Hayden Paddon –
hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz
kate@relishcomm.co.nz
, 021 587 227
Paddon, star Kiwi driver, chases fourth Whangarei Rally victory
New Zealand’s top rally duo, Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, head to this week’s International Rally of Whangarei with one goal – to win the top-class rally for the fourth time. Paddon, from Geraldine, and Kennard, from Blenheim, have already won two Production World Rally Championship events in Portugal and Argentina this year and while the Whangarei event is one step down on the world rally-sport ladder, the pair still faces a tough challenge to secure victory. They are one of 76 crews entered for the two-day event, which features the largest Asia Pacific Rally Championship field ever seen in Whangarei including current APRC points’ leader and former World Rally Championship driver Chris Atkinson in the ever-improving Proton Satria Neo S2000. Paddon can also expect tough competition from Atkinson’s Proton team-mate Alister McRae and Team MRF Mitsubishi drivers Katsu Taguchi, from Japan, and Gaurav Gill, from India. "This will be the most competitive year here, with a lot of APRC teams plus our Kiwi competitors to consider," says 24-year-old Paddon who won Rally Whangarei in 2007, 2009 and 2010. "The weather in July can also play a big part, but I’m feeling good and also feel we have made some more good improvements with the car." Paddon pilots a Subaru STI with new support from Placemakers at this year’s event, a change from the familiar green Mitsubishis in which he won the event previously. The popular driver also competes in a Subaru for his offshore events; it’s built and run by Belgium-based Symtech Racing. One of the key aims for Paddon’s 2011 season is complete as many competitive kilometres as possible, hence supplementing his PWRC events with as many New Zealand events as time and budget allow. He’s also been making the most of the opportunities to learn about and develop performance refinements in either car and apply similar enhancements to the other car. "Straight after we got back from Argentina we did another test with our New Zealand car, focussing on specific areas that we struggled with in Argentina and at Rally New Zealand, particularly the rear suspension and geometry. Before each event we have made a good gain and we feel we have made another good gain with the testing we’ve done before Whangarei. However, time always tells!" The International Rally of Whangarei counts as the fourth APRC round; it’s also the fourth round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC). Paddon is entered for the NZRC and won the first two rounds, Rally Otago and Rally New Zealand, to take an early lead in the national championship he’s won twice previously. Having missed the third NZRC round, fellow two-time championship winner Richard Mason now has the NZRC lead. "In terms of the NZRC, it is a matter of playing it round-by-round at the moment. We just have to concentrate on a good result in Whangarei and then make a plan of attack for the remainder of the year. "Every event, every opportunity to compete aids the overall campaign for 2011. Driving our New Zealand Subaru continues to contribute to our PWRC performance. We’re looking forward to Whangarei as it’s an event John and I always enjoy. We have already identified the areas we struggled with in Argentina and, after talking with our European team, we have a few things to try in Whangarei as part of our preparation for Rally Finland, which is our next PWRC event just two weeks after Whangarei."
Placemakers Join New Zealand World Rally Team PlaceMakers is revved up about its new sponsorship of two-time New Zealand Rally Champion, Hayden Paddon. Paddon revealed his PlaceMakers branding for the first time today when Rally New Zealand announced that Auckland will host next year’s World Championship round, Rally of New Zealand. "We’re proud to be one hundred percent behind Hayden and wish him all the best for the season," said PlaceMakers Chief Executive, John Beveridge. "The Paddon partnership is a perfect fit for PlaceMakers. As an organisation we are behind young people who aspire to be the best in their trade. Hayden’s success is an inspiration to everyone who strives be a champion in their field." On July 16, Paddon will unveil the new PlaceMakers paint job for his Subaru STI when he drives in the International Rally of Whangarei. Fans will have an opportunity to check out his ride beforehand at PlaceMakers Whangarei store where the car will be on display on Thursday July 14. Paddon says, "It’s great to have PlaceMakers onboard as part of my sponsorship team. Their support means my team and I can participate in the sport we love and achieve great things while we’re doing it." "My job is to concentrate on driving and focus on our goal to win both the New Zealand and World Rally Championships this year." Paddon along with co-driver John Kennard currently lead the Production World Rally Championships after victories in Portugal and Argentina. Locally the team lie in second place after winning the first two rounds before they had to skip the most recent round to focus on their PWRC duties. From September 8-11, Paddon will compete in the World Rally Championship in Australia as part of his 2011 Production World Rally Championship campaign where he aims to continue his rich vein of form against the best in the world. -Ends- For more information contact: John Beveridge PlaceMakers Chief Executive Phone: 021 659 711 Hayden Paddon Rally Driver Phone: 027 318 1748
Paddon makes it two-for-two with victory in PWRC at Rally Argentina
Kiwi pairing Hayden Paddon and John Kennard clinched their second victory in-a-row in their Michelin-shod Subaru Impreza on the third round of the 2011 FIA Production car World Rally Championship at Rally Argentina this weekend. Paddon, who didn’t nominate Rally Sweden as a scoring PWRC round, also now tops the Championship standings, displacing young Czech driver Martin Semerád (Mitsubishi), despite having competed in one less event.
"Absolutely amazing!" said Paddon at the finish of Rally Argentina. "I didn’t come here to win and to come away with maximum points is great for the Championship. Performance-wise it hasn’t been completely satisfying, but a great result for the team. There’s still a long way to go and we need to take it one round at a time, but it’s absolutely fantastic."
His first outing in Argentina, Paddon decided to practise a strategy of caution on Day One. Despite electrical gremlins which set in from SS4 onwards, strong times kept Paddon on the pace of the frontrunners, but sitting in a contented third, until the final stage of the day when the retirements of then first- and second-placed Patrik Flodin (SWE, Subaru) and Michal Ko?ciuszko (POL, Mitsubishi) promoted the Kiwi into the lead. Paddon’s Subaru continued with low power and slight misfiring throughout Day Two despite changes to his engine management system at midday service. However, the 2010 Pirelli Star Driver once again focused on putting in steady times and getting his Impreza through the stages. Even ‘steady’ times earned the unfailingly quick Paddon, who came to Argentina straight off the back of an almost flawless victory on his first round of the 2011 PWRC in Portugal, another stage win on SS15 and an eight minute lead over then second-placed Flodin by the end of Day Two. Another set of strong times on Day Three, and Paddon cruised home to victory in the PWRC, the first of an all-Subaru top three, and ninth place overall, earning him two WRC points.
Paddon targets podium for PWRC Rally Argentina
Fresh from winning Rally New Zealand earlier this month, New Zealand’s top rally pairing, Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, head for Argentina this week for their next Production World Rally Championship event. Paddon and Kennard, from Geraldine and Blenheim respectively, face an entirely new challenge at the South American event, which is the second of their international events this season. Rally Argentina runs from 26 to 29 May and is the sixth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship. The rally also counts for Paddon and fellow competitors in the production car category towards the PWRC. For Paddon, it’s the first time the two-time New Zealand rally champion has started in a rally in the South American continent. But, as he did last year during his Pirelli Star Driver scholarship season, he relishes the opportunity to learn and perform on the same roads that the World Rally Championship contenders drive just a few minutes ahead of him. "I am really looking forward to Argentina but it is going to be quite different to Portugal," says the 24-year-old of the European event in March where he won the PWRC category with the largest margin ever recorded in the production category. "I have studied many hours of in-car footage of the event and parts of it look very rough. Although flowing in nature, the stages in Argentina are known to be slightly slower and more technically demanding than some other WRC events. In saying that, there also look to be some fast sections which I always enjoy." Kennard, Paddon’s co-driver, says he was last at the Argentinean event in 2003 in his role as a WRC team logistics manager. "However I haven’t actually competed on the rally stages, so in that sense, it’s new for me too." Paddon and Kennard compete in a Subaru STI rally car, built to the strict Group N production car regulations by Belgium race team, Symtech. This car is virtually the same as the Possum Bourne Motorsport-built Subaru in which he won both Rally Otago and Rally New Zealand, so Paddon and his small local team have been using all the knowledge gained while developing their New Zealand Robbie Leicester – owned Subaru to enhance their PWRC programme with Symtech. Paddon says: "The team has done a great job since Portugal rebuilding the car in a short space of time before it was loaded on the boat to head to Argentina some weeks ago. Competing locally in New Zealand has really helped my knowledge and experience of Subarus a great deal. It’s also been invaluable to get more kilometres in the driver’s seat – in this business, every kilometre of competition and testing counts. We take what we’ve learnt here to Argentina to test it in our PWRC car. I feel with a few further developments, we will have an even faster package." When Paddon established the company Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd at the end of 2010 to fund and support his goal of becoming the world rally champion, the first objective is for the affable Kiwi to become the 2011 Production World Rally champion. After contesting the Portuguese event, Paddon is in second place on the points-table behind Czech driver Martin Semerad who also earned points in the first nominated PWRC event in Sweden in February. Registered PWRC competitors must contest six of the seven PWRC events, so not all competitors will contest each event, meaning the final results may not become clear until later in the season. In the meantime, before Argentina, the standings show Semerad has 40 points, Paddon has 25, and Ukrainian driver Valirey Gorban has 22 points. Gorban is not contesting the Argentinean event, while Semerad is. "As the Argentinean stages are rough, our priority for the event is to secure good strong points. While speed is important in the championship, so is consistency – it’s vital that we come away with good points even though we have no experience here. Our remaining four rounds – Finland, Australia, Spain and Great Britain – are rallies on which we have experience or we know will suit us. We want to be in the best possible position in the championship after Argentina – and in relation to Semerad – to stand us in good stead to go hard for the rest of the year." Paddon has made the most of the opportunity for many kilometres of testing and competition around and during the two New Zealand rallies. "In addition, my preparation for the event has included studying footage, my normal fitness training and also altitude training thanks to Alto Lab to help me prepare for the high altitudes at Rally Argentina."
The event is based in Villa Carlos Paz, a town 700km northwest of Buenos Aires on the banks of San Roque Lake near Argentina’s second-largest city Cordoba. The rally is popularised by its jumps, water splashes and the lunar landscape of the high altitude El Condor stage, as well as the tens of thousands of enthusiastic rally fans who line the route. The weather in late May, as the country heads into winter, could deliver cold and wet conditions for Paddon to contend with. Paddon says he and Kennard leave New Zealand on Thursday 19 May. "We have a couple days to acclimatise when we arrive. We then have a day’s testing on Monday with the PWRC competitors before we get into reconnaissance and our first look at the roads on Tuesday."
Paddon would like to thank the continued support he gets from his loyal partners, which include Subaru New Zealand, EDL Fasteners, CR Properties, Racetech Seats, Castrol, Dunlop, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Camerons Sea and Air Freight, Endless brakes, In-tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Reaction Racing, Raiseys Sport Nutrition, Chicane Racewear, RallyTours, Alto Lab, Pope Print, Granger Design, Bluebridge Ferry, 1 Group and Symtech Racing. The team shares results via text updates, Twitter and Facebook, or visit the website
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Hayden Paddon –
, 027 318 1748 or International Ph +37 257 512856
Or Kate Gordon –
, 021 587 227 Reconnaissance continues on Wednesday, before Thursday’s shakedown test session, ceremonial start and first super special stage run through the streets of the host town. The rally itself starts on Friday and runs through until 1pm Sunday with a total of 378km of competitive stages and over 1,000km of touring between stages to be completed. Following Rally Argentina, Paddon and Kennard return to New Zealand to contest the International Rally of Whangarei, an event they’ve won three times, in July. The pair then heads straight off to Europe for Rally Finland in pursuit of their world rally goals. This year’s programme also includes PWRC events in Australia, Spain and Great Britain.
Production World Rally Championship race winner Paddon fits Racetech seats New Zealand World Rally team driver Hayden Paddon has chosen world-leading seat manufacturer, Racetech, to supply seats for his Production World Championship and New Zealand Rally Championship campaigns. Paddon, with co-driver John Kennard, won his first nominated round of the PWRC in Portugal and followed that up with a first up win in the new Subaru back home in New Zealand at both Otago and the recent Rally of New Zealand. Now with Racetech seats firmly a fixed inside the cockpit of the Subaru, the leading Kiwi rally team is targeting further victories and the 2011 PWRC crown. "Safety is paramount to us – we will not compromise. The Racetech seat we’ve chosen are lighter and safer than anything we’ve used before. "Its critical to us to have the best possible equipment, and the Racetech seats come with FIA approval which gives us added confidence in the product," Paddon says. Racetech is one of only a handful of companies worldwide to meet the stringent requirements of FIA safety standards, and has worked closely with the FIA institute to develop and introduce new standards for racing and rallying seats. Racetech is no stranger to international competition, The Subaru World Rally team used Racetech seats, and most of the Australian V8 Supercar drivers are seated on the company’s products. Racetech director David Black says supporting local talent is an important part of the company’s business. "Hayden’s a young charger with a huge future in front of him and we’re delighted to supply him and John with Racetech RT9119HR seats and Racetech lightweight harnesses for the PWRC and NZRC." For further information, contact Racetech New Zealand +64-4-939-0552
Paddon wins Rally NZ with significant margin New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have won Rally New Zealand with a considerable margin of 2 min 26.8 sec over Richard and Sara Mason after 267 competitive kilometres over the weekend of 7 and 8 May. Paddon and Kennard, New Zealand’s top rallying pairing, become the first Kiwis to win the event for 30 years. Paddon dominated the event from the outset, winning six of eight of the first day’s stages and setting a new stage record and winning two more stages on the final day.
The event, while not a World Rally Championship event, attracted a very strong field of competitors registered for the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship battling for the Rally New Zealand trophy on both days on roads through the Franklin, North Waikato and Raglan districts.
Paddon was the favourite to win this weekend’s rally and the two-time New Zealand rally champion drove with both composure and pace from start to finish.
"It’s been a great weekend and it’s pretty cool to know that my name’s going to be engraved on the trophy beside names like Colin McRae. He was always one of my heroes, so that makes this a very special victory," said Paddon.
"It’s always fantastic to win and it’s a huge credit to our team who have been working really hard with this new car. It is great to see that all our work is taking us in the right direction with this Group N Subaru, which will be a major benefit with the Symtech-built Subaru we run in the Production World Rally Championship with our next round being in Argentina at the end of this month."
While Paddon’s pace was clear from the outset, fellow competitors enjoyed an intense and, at times, heart-breaking tussle for the other podium positions. Masterton’s husband-and-wife team of Richard and Sara Mason were chased hard by Dunedin’s engaged couple Emma Gilmour and Glenn Macneall, with the Subaru driver duos swapping places, mostly in the top five, through the event’s 14 competitive stages. Double rally champion Mason exerted additional pressure on day two to extend a final margin of 1 min, 13.4 sec over Gilmour.
Mason took two stage wins on his way to second place, both on the Whaanga Coast. "We were happy to win those stages, but our times weren’t as good as they have been on other WRC events. Overall we’ve got a little more to do to match Hayden’s pace, but we were thinking of the championship first as Hayden will miss two of the rounds. Now we think we have stepped ahead of the other guys in the championship and that’s the main thing."
Also in the mix for the top three spots earlier on were defending champion Dean Sumner of Rotorua and former champion Chris West of Christchurch. Sumner put in two top five stage times early on Sunday, but slid off the road just short of the finish on the first run through Whaanga Coast and his rally was over. West again faced cruel luck when a mechanical failure occurred just outside the gates to Hampton Downs Motorsport Park as he was heading for the final stage of the event, a high speed run around the tarmac circuit. West’s demise bought ever-steady competitor and series sponsor Brian Green, of Palmerston North, into fourth place.
Fifth place overall went to Kaiapoi’s Brian Stokes piloting a classic Ford Escort RS1800. The former rally champion also won the Rally New Zealand Historic Rally title. Behind Stokes was another Kaiapoi and historic class competitor Marcus Van Klink who topped the points-table for the New Zealand Historic Challenge Trophy in his Mazda RX7.
Seventh overall and top Group N two-wheel-drive competitor was Nelson’s Ben Hunt. The former Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Scholarship winner heads the 2WD points-table after winning this class in Otago.
"It’s been a fantastic event," said 23-year-old Hunt. "I love these roads and we’re been pushing pretty hard so it’s great to have finished so well."
The top ten places were rounded out by Matt Van Tuinen from Queensland, Sloan Cox from Rotorua, who battled punctures and clutch issues to hold on to the finish and Josh Marston from Christchurch, who holds second on the 2WD leader-board.
The Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship continues at Rally Wairarapa on 28 and 29 May. Rally New Zealand will next run in 2012 as a World Rally Championship event with the date still to be confirmed.
Rally New Zealand: Provisional overall results
Position, Driver/Co-driver, Driver’s Hometown, Car, Total time/Margin to leader
1, Hayden Paddon/John Kennard, Geraldine, Subaru STI, 2:56:19.8
2, Richard Mason/Sara Mason, Masterton Subaru STI, +2:26.8
3, Emma Gilmour/Glenn Macneall, Dunedin, Subaru STI, +3:40.2
4, Brian Green/Fleur Pedersen, Palmerston North, Mitsubishi EVO10, +15:07.8
5, Brian Stokes/Ally Mackay, Kaiapoi, Ford Escort RS1800, +17:28.4 (H)
6, Marcus Van Klink/Dave Neill, Kaiapoi, Mazda RX7, +17:31.0 (H)
7, Ben Hunt/Tony Rawstorn, Nelson, Ford Fiesta ST, +17:37.1 (2)
8, Matt Van Tuinen/Nathan Long, Queensland Australia, Subaru STI, +21:13.2
9, Sloan Cox/Tarryn Cox, Rotorua, Mitsubishi EVO10, +21:58.3
10, Josh Marston/Sarah Coatsworth, Christchurch, Ford Fiesta ST, +22:57.1 (2)
Paddon dominates day one of Rally NZ Hayden Paddon demonstrated his considerable talent behind the wheel of a rally car during day one of Rally New Zealand 2011, establishing a convincing margin of 2 minutes, 17.3 seconds over Richard Mason and a close-chasing pack. As top seed for the two-day rally, Paddon led from the first stage of the day. The Geraldine-based Subaru driver, who has just turned 24, was nearly 13 seconds faster through the opening 32.3km Te Akau stage than former New Zealand rally champion Chris West, from Christchurch. Then, with each competitive stage, Paddon, a two-time New Zealand rally champion, added to his leading margin and winning six of the day’s eight stages.
Mason, from Masterton and driving another Subaru, finished the day in second place, just 10.4 seconds ahead of Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour. This pair, along with West and defending champion Dean Sumner, from Taupo, had an intensely competitive day, changing positions on the leader-board behind Paddon. Gilmour held second place until the day’s final super special stage, but a fuel surge meant the Subaru driver lost some time and allowed Mason to take back the runner-up position.
Paddon said he and co-driver John Kennard had a really good day. "It’s fantastic to be in the lead and great to know all the testing we’ve done with the car in recent days has worked."
With another six stages to run on Sunday, including the iconic Whaanga Coast stage, Paddon acknowledges it’s another big day of competition. "The road conditions should be very similar to today – wet on the road, but fine. However a bit of rain could help us at the front. We’re in a really good position from here."
Mason, a back-to-back rally champion, said the day was somewhat up and down. "I didn’t make the best choice with tyres in the morning, but was happier with the option we ran this afternoon. We’re a lot closer now and are very happy with the car so we’ll keep things as they are and push on tomorrow."
The honour of winning the other two stages – both the super special stages at Hampton Downs – went to New Plymouth driver Neil Marshall who is known as a tarmac specialist. Competitors are required to run regular gravel-spec tyres on their rally cars for the high-speed tarmac sprint around nearly two laps of the Hampton circuit. Marshall set two new records for fastest Kiwi on the Hampton special stage on each of his runs, with the Group N Mitsubishi driver ending Saturday with a very quick time of 2:46.7 for the 4.68km stage.
The top five competitors overall – Paddon, Mason, Gilmour, Sumner and West – are also the top contenders in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship standings. Saturday’s action also involved competitors in the Smartwood by Alpwood Possum Bourne Memorial Rally with Aucklander Kingsley Jones running strongly all day to win the Possum Bourne Memorial Trophy for the first time. Jones also finished the day ninth overall.
The event also involves the Rally New Zealand Historic Rally with Kaiapoi’s Marcus Van Klink in a Mazda RX7 leading this field overnight ahead of fellow Kaiapoi resident Brian Stokes in a Ford Escort RS1800.
Rally New Zealand continues on Sunday with six stages taking competitors to Raglan and Whaanga Coast before returning to Hampton Downs Motorsport Park for the final super special stage.
Rally New Zealand: Provisional overall results after day one
Position, Driver/Co-driver, Driver’s Hometown, Car, Total time/Margin to leader
1, Hayden Paddon/John Kennard, Geraldine, Subaru STI, 1:32:47.3
2, Richard Mason/Sara Mason, Masterton Subaru STI, +2:17.3
3, Emma Gilmour/Glenn Macneall, Dunedin, Subaru STI, +2:27.7
4, Dean Sumner/Paul Fallon, Taupo, Mitsubishi EVO9, +2:34.5
5, Chris West/Erin Kyle, Christchurch, Mitsubishi EVO9, +3:12.9
6, Ben Jagger/Ben Hawkins, Whangarei, Subaru STI, +5:25.3
7, Neil Marshall/Richard Carr, New Plymouth, Mitsubishi EVO8, +5:54.6
8, Kingsley Jones/Waverley Nation, Auckland, Mitsubishi EVO8, +8:29.7*
9, Matt Van Tuinen/Nathan Long, Queensland Australia, Subaru STI, +8:54.7
10, Brian Green/Fleur Pedersen, Palmerston North, Mitsubishi EVO10, +9:17.0
* Entrant in the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally which ran for day one of Rally New Zealand only. All others are New Zealand Rally Championship competitors.
Paddon wins Otago rally
The weekend’s 8 -10 April opening round of the 2011 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship has seen top rally driver Hayden Paddon secure a comprehensive win at the DriveSouth Rally of Otago.
Coming out 1 minute 36.9 seconds ahead after 15 special stages, Paddon took an early lead in the dark of Friday evening to eventually cross the finish ramp first at Dunedin’s railway station on the Sunday afternoon.
Second, defending title champion Dean Sumner from Rotorua put in a strong performance on the final 47 kilometre special stage to slightly narrow Paddon’s advantage. Sumner, in a Mitsubishi, was in an earlier battle for position with Dunedin local and Subaru driver Emma Gilmour, before an off-road excursion dropped her down the order mid-morning. Finishing third, former champion Chris
West from Timaru grew his performance over the course of the weekend, edging out another former champion, Richard Mason from finishing on the podium.
Taking the advantage in to the final stage, Mason punctured near the end to lose only enough time for the dais position. The Subaru STI husband and wife team had to settle for fourth after the 270 kilometre competition across the lower Otago region.
While Paddon relinquished some of his overnight Saturday lead, his pace kept him at the head of the day’s standings to collect a maximum haul of 128 points, to Sumner’s 108 and West’s 89.
"It’s a great result for the team – definitely," said Paddon; having won on debut with the Robbie Leicester owned Subaru STI. "There were a lot of unknown’s coming to an event we know well but with a car we’d never used here. So it’s been a bit of a rush and we haven’t quite got it doing what we want right yet, but already we’ve got good speed. We’ve just got to work on the areas we know need improving, do some testing and get it better for the next one."
Drilled on when that might be, Paddon said they were working hard at securing a deal to see them contest the championship second round: Rally New Zealand in early May
Overall results DriveSouth Rally of Otago 8-10 April 2011 – top ten.
Pos, No, Driver, Co-Driver, Hometown, Vehicle, Time
1, 2, Hayden Paddon, John Kennard, Geraldine, Subaru STI 2:34:44.2
2, 1, Dean Sumner, Paul Fallon, Rotorua, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, +1:36.9
3, 4, Chris West, Erin Kyle, Timaru, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, +2:29.4
4, 5, Richard Mason, Sara Mason, Masterton, Subaru STI, +2:47.1
5, 101, Andrew Hawkeswood, Rocky Hudson, Alexandra, Audi Quattro, +3:39.9
6, 7, Glenn Inkster, Glenn Goldring, Auckland, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, +5:38.1
7, 6, Geof Argyle, Phillip Deakin, Feilding, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII, +6:02.9
8, 11, Ben Jagger, Ben Hawkins, Whangarei, Subaru STI, +7:42.8
9, 104, Dean Bond, Ross Moody, Balclutha, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6.5, +7:47.7
10, 3, Emma Gilmour, Glenn Macneall, Dunedin, Subaru STI, +8:33.7
Paddon joined by Supercheap Auto brand for rally campaign Leading automotive parts supplier Supercheap Auto has joined top rally driver Hayden Paddon’s New Zealand Rally Championship campaign that starts this weekend 8 – 10 April in Dunedin. In announcing the deal, Geraldine based Paddon says it reinforces their New Zealand campaign with a brand that’s continually growing in strength due to business partnerships such as the one they are now part of. "It’s a real honour to have such an iconic automotive brand as part of our team.? We’re out there to win rallies and lead the field, just like Supercheap Autos strive to maintain being a leading automotive parts outlet." "Obviously motorsport is a key market to them so by having their brand at the front of the field is very much part of their strategy," said the 23-year-old two-time New Zealand rally champion (2008 and 2009). "But it’s also to create a vibe around the brand, creating an experience that people want to be a part of and build on what we already have." Paddon will campaign a new Subaru STI, owned by Palmerston North’s Robbie Leicester.? Run to the same specification as the one he is using in the Production World Rally Championship, it will be the first time he will have driven the car in competition on New Zealand’s roads. "We’ve done some very successful testing in the car, which is identical to the one we are using overseas.? Now we are adjusting its look to incorporate Supercheap Auto." "Today we got a last-chance to run the car at a shakedown event before the three-day competition begins.?? Friday’s three night-time stages will be a drawcard for many who have endearing memories of watching the cars lights weave through the countryside.? It’s something we know will really make Supercheap Auto stand out - a real rural romance." Supercheap Auto New Zealand spokesman Angus McDonald says the joining with such an accomplished team broadens their target market appeal as they look forward to an exciting journey forward.? Starting second car on the road for the Otago rally, behind defending New Zealand rally champion Dean Sumner, Paddon and co-driver John Kennard have 15 special stages totalling 270 kilometres to cover.? Starting from Dunedin’s Octagon at 7pm on Friday, the teams return to the city’s railway station on Sunday afternoon for the 3:55pm finish ceremony. "It’s the first time we’ve done the event since 2009 and I’m really looking forward to it.? Along with dad and our regular team we’ve got a lot to achieve so it’s reassuring to know we’ve got greater support from our partners." Following Rally of Otago, Paddon and co-driver John Kennard head to Argentina where they’ll contest their second round of the P-WRC in the Belgium run Subaru STI.? The pair will also contest WRC events in Finland, Australia, Spain and Great Britain, with another New Zealand event – the International Rally of Whangarei, which they’ve won three times – also on the calendar. Along with Supercheap Auto, Paddon Rallysport welcomes new partners Saddle Hill Quarries from Dunedin, John Penny Homes from Taupo and Yuchai Excavators, and also appreciates the support of Subaru, EDL Fasteners, Chicane, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Raisey Sports Nutrition, Endless Brakes, Castrol, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, All About Signs, Camerons, Dunlop, Strait Shipping, Granger Design, CR Properties and Rally Tours NZ. The team shares text updates, comments and photos on
www.facebook.com/haydenpaddonwrc or visit the website http://www.haydenpaddon.com
Paddon seeks polished performance in Otago
New Zealand’s top rally driver Hayden Paddon heads to this weekend’s DriveSouth Rally of Otago with a straightforward goal of improving his own and his new Subaru’s performance which in turns benefits the 23-year-old’s international campaign. With co-driver John Kennard, Paddon is contesting the Production Car World Rally Championship, the feeder series to the World Rally Championship. The pair started their 2011 PWRC title bid perfectly, taking victory in the production car class in Portugal two weeks ago with the largest winning margin in the category’s history. Back in New Zealand, Paddon is fortunate to have the support of Palmerston North businessman and former rally scholarship champion Robbie Leicester who has provided a new Subaru STI for Paddon to run in New Zealand’s premier rally competition. "There are several benefits for us in being able to run a very similar Subaru in New Zealand to the car we are now running in the PWRC with our Europe-based team, Symtech," says the double New Zealand rally champion from his home near Geraldine. "We have still only done limited miles driving a Subaru and we still have a lot more development and work to do. Going into this event, we’re also testing new things with this Subaru which came from Possum Bourne Motorsport. All this adds to our learning and hopefully our on-the-road performance." While Paddon is looking forward to running on the fantastic roads around the Otago region this weekend, he acknowledges that Friday’s three night stages add a new challenge. "I have done only a little bit of night rallying a few years ago, so that’s going to be something relatively new," says the 2009 Rally Otago winner. "It’s an interesting concept, rallying at night something I am really looking forward to. It’s kind of like driving in a tunnel and the pace notes have to be spot on." Paddon is seeded number two on the road behind defending New Zealand rally champion Dean Sumner. "As we haven’t yet confirmed whether we’ll be able to contest other NZRC events other than Otago and Whangarei, our primary goals are around the car development, trying new things and learning about it, and to set some good stage times." Following Otago, Paddon and Kennard heads to Argentina where they’ll experience WRC rallying in South America for the first time. Their P-WRC campaign also takes them to Finland, Australia, Spain and Great Britain, with another New Zealand event – the International Rally of Whangarei, which they’ve won three times – also on the calendar.
Paddon Rallysport welcomes new sponsors Saddle Hill Quarries from Dunedin, John Penny Homes from Taupo and Yuchai Excavators, and also appreciates the support of Subaru, EDL Fasteners, Chicane, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Raisey Sports Nutrition, Endless Brakes, Castrol, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, All About Signs, Camerons, Dunlop, Strait Shipping, Granger Design, CR Properties and Rally Tours NZ. The team shares text updates, comments and photos on
www.facebook.com/haydenpaddonwrc or visit the website www.haydenpaddon.com
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Hayden Paddon – Mobile: 027 318 1748 Hayden Paddon’s 2011 calendar 24-27 March – Vodafone Rally de Portugal (PWRC) 8-10 April – Rally Otago (NZRC) 26-29 May – Rally Argentina (PWRC) 15-17 July – International Rally of Whangarei (NZRC) 28-31 July – Neste Oil Rally Finland (PWRC) 8-11 Sept – Rally Australia (PWRC) 20-23 Oct – Rally de Espana (Rally Spain, PWRC) 10-13 Nov – Wales Rally GB (PWRC)
Portuguese PWRC triumph for Paddon Kiwi pairing Hayden Paddon and his co-driver John Kennard claimed a confident win in their new Subaru Impreza on the second round of the 2011 FIA Production car World Rally Championship this weekend at Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
After a fifth place on the opening Super Special Stage in Lisbon, 2010 Pirelli Star Driver Paddon led the PWRC from SS2, the first stage of Day One proper, and didn’t look back. Confident in his 2010 pace notes, Paddon spent Day One getting used to driving the rough Portuguese stages in a Subaru not his usual Mitsubishi. He handled the switch with ease and pushed to increase his lead until midday service on Day Two when with 13.9 seconds in hand, he eased off and focused on getting to the finish unperturbed. This strategy proved to be a good one. On Day Three, he broke his suspension arm on SS15 and had to crawl about 10km to the end of the stage, which cost him nearly two minutes, but barely chipped away at his impressive lead. Fortunately, he was able to replace it with a spare on the road section back to midday service and remained over eight minutes ahead of the pack.
While Paddon’s skill is unquestionable, the size of his victory was in part due to the problems of Championship rivals Michal Ko?ciuszko (POL), Patrik Flodin (SWE) and Anders Grøndal (NOR). After a strong fourth on SS2, the gearbox on the 2010 SWRC driver’s Mitsubishi broke on SS3 forcing him to retire prematurely from Day One. He superallied on Day Two and put in consistently quick times throughout the rest of the event, even picking up his first two PWRC stage wins on SS12 and SS13. However, despite mastering the Portuguese stages, the 2009 JWRC Runner-up couldn’t make up the time he’d lost due to Day One’s misfortune. Flodin too fell victim to the treacherous SS3 when he went off and rolled his Subaru four times. He was able to get going again, but was over eight minutes off the pace. Following this, his Subaru was a little worse for wear throughout the event and the Swede, known for his phenomenal pace, was unable to rival Paddon’s times.
Grøndal proved his talent on Day One in Portugal. His first time on the rough gravel stages, he came home a well deserved second to the more experienced Paddon. The 2010 Norwegian Champion spent Day One looking for the right set-up for the Portuguese stages, but was otherwise untroubled until Day Two. On SS11 he broke a differential and then things tumbled from bad to worse when he went off the road on SS12 and rolled his Impreza. Unlike Ko?ciuszko and Flodin, he was unable to continue with the rally and despite proving his pace time and again, retired without points for the second PWRC round in-a-row this season.
This series of surprises all made room for Jukka Ketomäki (FIN) who drove a steady but strong event throughout and Martin Semerád (CZE) who had fallen behind due to tyre problems on Day One to finish second and third. This marked Semerád’s second podium of the season, after he became the youngest ever driver to win a PWRC round in Sweden earlier this year.
Benito Guerra (MEX) had mixed feelings about his impressive fourth place after undertaking the event with a new team, co-driver and Mitsubishi. His delight at picking up 12 PWRC points was tempered by his last minute loss of a place on the podium. After finishing Day Two in a strong third place and almost three minutes ahead of nearest rival Jukka Ketomäki, he lost his turbo on the long SS15 and with it seven minutes. Even so, he successfully completed the morning loop, but suffered a further time penalty, because a turbo change made him late out of service. Never to be defeated, he powered through the second loop of Day Three, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to catch Semerád.
DRIVER QUOTES
1st – HAYDEN PADDON (NZL): "I'm really happy. It's a really good start and better that we expected considering that it is our first time in the Subaru. We know that the season just started and there's a lot more to come but we'll keep working hard and do always our best."
2nd – JUKKA KETOMÄKI (FIN): "It’s a surprise, but I drove very seriously. I found the hard rain very difficult, it was tough, but I’m happy."
3rd – MARTIN SEMERÁD (CZE): "It’s two really good results now this season, but I’m not satisfied with this event. I hope the next one will be better. We weren’t in a position to fight this time and I would like to be able to drive faster next time."
Paddon ready for NZWRT debut in Portugal
The newly-established New Zealand World Rally Team with New Zealand’s top rally pairing Hayden Paddon and John Kennard head to Europe early next week to finish preparations for the team’s debut in Portugal’s World Rally Championship event. Vodafone Rally de Portugal runs from 24 to 27 March and Paddon and Kennard will be competing in the Production World Rally Championship category as they did last year as part of the sponsored Pirelli Star Driver team. However, this year, the pair has their own team and drives a brand-new Subaru. Before the Portuguese event starts, Paddon and Kennard have a two-day test in Spain in their new Subaru Impreza Group N rally car with engineers from Symtech, the Belgium-based team who will run the car. "It’s been an amazing and very busy few months since we finished with the Pirelli scheme last November. We’ve set up our team and the investment company behind it, confirmed the car supply and running deal with Symtech, talked to prospective sponsors and launched the team," says the 23-year-old from Geraldine in New Zealand’s South Island. "The public support has been phenomenal and, while we’re still looking for a major sponsor, it’s great to be able to focus on doing what I know how to do best and get back behind the wheel of a rally car next week." Paddon notes: "The roads in Spain we’re using for the test are quite similar to Portugal, so this offers us a great opportunity to get to know the car in a genuinely competitive situation. From all our communication with Dirk, Wim and the guys at Symtech so far, they’ve been excellent to deal with. "I feel that our testing prior to the event will give me plenty of time to adapt to the new car while also getting it fine tuned for my driving style." Recently Paddon made the most of the chance to drive a locally-owned Subaru rally car and noted some distinct differences to the Mitsubishis he’s driven for most of his competitive career. "With the Subaru, you can carry a lot more corner speed in particular the slower second and third gear corners, so that provides some benefits." Looking ahead to Portugal, Paddon says his main competitors in the Production World Rally Championship category are also in Subarus. "There are about 16 PWRC entries this year, which is pretty strong. Among the top guys in Subarus are last year’s PWRC runner-up Patrik Flodin, from Sweden (who was excluded from the opening PWRC round in Sweden due to a technical infringement) and also Norwegian Anders Grondal (who also scored no points in Sweden). "At the moment Czech Martin Semerad leads the PWRC points, but the thing to remember about the PWRC is that while there are seven rounds of the WRC which are open to PWRC competitors, each of us can only nominate six of those seven events. "We weren’t ready to contest Sweden, understandably, so will be running at all six remaining events this season. After Portugal we have Argentina at end of May, Finland at the end of July, Australia in September, Spain in October and finishing with Great Britain in November." Paddon’s preparation for Portugal has included extensive reviews of in-car footage from this event last year. "I’ve been able to go through all our pace notes while watching the in-car footage. Most of the competitive stages are the same this year, so it’s actually interesting to see how much you recall and the extent to by which I was able to refine and improve the pace notes. We struggled with our pace notes in Portugal last year, so we are rectifying that problem before we get there. "John and I are looking forward to doing an event we’ve done before. This year we will have the advantage of knowing how to get around, knowing a bit about the culture – it’s exciting doing new events, but it’s also good to feel more comfortable going back to an event for the second time. One factor which may change is the road conditions – Rally Portugal is running two months earlier than it did last year, so it could be a lot wetter. That’s something of an unknown at this point." Paddon says he’s focussed on achieving a good result in Portugal to show prospective sponsors what he can do with the new team and car. "It’s been fantastic, getting our New Zealand World Rally Team launched, but things have hit a plateau at the moment. There’s still a funding shortfall to find, so we want a good result in Portugal to show what we can do." Realistically, Paddon says he’s aiming for a top two finish. "We’d like to try and win, but it’s a long championship so first we have to finish and score points in every round." After the devastating earthquake that struck Christchurch over 2 weeks ago, Hayden and the team have been helping in the appeal to get the city back up and running again. "It is very close to home for us as many of our friends, family and team come from Christchurch. We have made donations to auctions where we can and will be running the Red Cross fundraiser appeal decals on our car in Portugal. The biggest thing I feel we can do for New Zealand however is to go to Portugal, wave the New Zealand flag with pride and portray to Europe that New Zealand is still here, standing and going strong. The tourism industry is an important part to our economy, so we want to help encourage people to keep visiting" said Hayden.
Paddon and the New Zealand World Rally Team appreciates the support of Subaru, EDL Fasteners, Chicane, Cameron Sea and Air Freight, All About Signs, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Raisey Sports Nutrition, Resene Automotive, Endless Brakes, Castrol, Granger Design, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Brita Safety, In-tune Automotive and Rally Tours NZ. ENDS/ For more information, please contact: Hayden Paddon NZ Ph: +64 27 318 1748 International Ph: +37 257 004531
hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz
Images are available from
www.haydenpaddon.com/gallery
New Zealand World Rally Team preparations on-track New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon is counting down the days until his Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) campaign starts with his new team, Symtech Racing, in just three weeks. After Paddon’s recent announcement that he had formed the New Zealand World Rally Team to contest the prestigious global production car series and switching to Subaru, the response has been phenomenal as rally fans and Kiwi sports enthusiasts get behind the team’s tilt at the 2011 PWRC title. "Everything has been incredibly busy, particularly as we continue to work find further funding," says Paddon, a two-time New Zealand rally champion who finished third in his first attempt at the PWRC last year. "It’s always enjoyable, no matter how busy we are, and the upside of being busy is that time flies by and it’s not long now until our first round in Portugal from 25 to 27 March!" Paddon, along with regular co-driver John Kennard from Blenheim, depart New Zealand bound for Europe on 12 March, a week before the Portuguese event gets underway with its official reconnaissance runs through each stage. During the week commencing 14 March, Paddon and Kennard meet the Symtech team in Spain to meet the full rally crew for the first time and conduct a two-day test. "I am really looking forward to getting behind the wheel and trying our new Subaru out," says Paddon. "We have plenty of time to test it, so we will take a measured approach of first learning the car, then adapting the setup to fine-tune it to my driving style." The New Zealand World Rally Team revealed their car’s striking livery last week, which features a classic New Zealand black and white colour scheme and the country’s national symbol, a silver fern. Paddon said it was important to also incorporate green in the car’s livery as his successful New Zealand-based team – dubbed Team Green – has featured green as its predominate colour for many years. Paddon reports that Symtech’s engineers are ahead of schedule as they continue working on the completion of the STR11 Subaru Impreza WRX that Paddon and Kennard will pilot. "The car is going to look great! It’s a huge personal honour to carry the New Zealand colours into international competition, and to also take our Team Green theme to the world stage, it’s fantastic to continue that link to something with such strong symbolism for our hard-working team in New Zealand." As part of the preparations and negotiations for this year, Paddon and the other directors of Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd, the company backing Paddon’s bid to become the world rally champion, have been holding meetings with various influential people to talk about both this year’s and future plans. Recent meetings include an opportunity to talk with New Zealand’s Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism, Rt. Hon. John Key, and Minister of Sport, Rt. Hon. Murray McCully. "It was fantastic to meet the Prime Minister and Minister McCully. They were both really interested in what we are doing and also understand the opportunities that we have on the world stage to help promote New Zealand as a destination. Whether anything more comes of these meetings is yet to be seen, but it feels a very constructive to have made the most of the opportunities to let them know who I am and what I do," says Paddon after returning home to Geraldine this week. Now Paddon and Kennard have just three weeks to make final preparations before their PWRC journey begins with Rally Portugal during the last weekend in March.
Black and Green Subaru revealed
New Zealand World Rally Team last night revealed the first images of their livery of their Subaru Impreza which they will tackle the 2011 Production World Rally Championship with.
The livery incorporates the black and silver fern of New Zealand while also continuing the green theme which has been at the heart of all of Hayden’s motorsport. The majority of the front and roof is black, with a large Silver Fern taking up most of the roof.
For further photos please see www.haydenpaddon.com/gallery
Car switch to aid Paddon’s bid for world rally title
New Zealand’s top rally driver Hayden Paddon has announced the details of his 2011 Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) campaign and the formation of the New Zealand World Rally Team, something that Paddon describes as a “dream come true”.
Paddon has formed what is essentially the first New Zealand world rally team since Possum Bourne. The new team is run by Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd, the company formed by Paddon and his supporters late in 2010.
The goal is simple: to win the 2011 PWRC title.
“There has been a phenomenal amount of hard work by many people to put this campaign together,” said the two-time New Zealand rally champion at the team’s launch at a special fundraising dinner in Timaru on 22 January. “While we are not over the finish line yet in terms of the budget, we are well on our way and will continue to work on the required funds throughout the year.”
Not only does Paddon’s 2011 campaign represent the first time a New Zealand team has put together a full PWRC campaign, it’s also got a major twist for the long-time Mitsubishi driver.
“While it’s no secret that we wanted to get back overseas and win the PWRC title this year, what may surprise many is our switch of cars to form a partnership with rally giant, Subaru,” says Paddon.
Paddon finished third in the production car class – a feeder series to the World Rally Championship – on debut in 2010. That campaign had the backing of funding and a professionally-prepared vehicle from the Pirelli Star Driver scholarship that Paddon won in 2009, as well as funding from Paddon’s own sponsors and a Rally New Zealand Rising Stars driver development award.
“Last year’s opportunities with the Pirelli Star Driver programme were amazing, and to follow that up by being able to put our own global programme together is fantastic. We were offered an opportunity to run with Ralliart Italy again this year in a Mitsubishi, but after being approached by a Subaru representative, we decided to make the change as we feel that there are greater future possibilities with Subaru.
“The move to Subaru will be a big change for us, especially considering how much we have achieved in a series of Mitsubishis. In saying that, I am confident that driving the Subaru will give us a better chance of winning the championship as they are very strong, well balanced cars. At the end of the day, as long as it has four wheels and a steering wheel, I’m happy! As a youngster I was always a huge Subaru fan, and now to get a chance to drive one in world competition fulfils a childhood dream.”
Running a latest spec STR11 Subaru Impreza N4 for Paddon and his co-driver for the past five seasons, Blenheim’s John Kennard, is highly-regarded Belgium team, Symtech Racing.
Symtech, based in Grobbendonk, is well known in Europe for its extensive expertise building and running competitive Subaru Impreza rally cars to international Group N (or production car) regulations. The team won the 2004 PWRC title with Irish driver Niall McShea and currently successfully runs the official Subaru Poland rally team in the Polish national rally championship.
“This is our first time dealing with Symtech, but Dirk, Wim and the rest of the team are really enthusiastic about working with us. They are every bit as motivated to win the production championship as we are. All the ingredients are there for it to be a successful relationship and we are confident that the car will be very competitive.”
Adapting to the Subaru is another new challenge for the 23-year-old who demonstrated a consistent ability to learn, improve and deliver strong performances in every event he contested last year. Paddon sees the change of car as simply another opportunity to lift his game to a whole new level and challenge for the PWRC class victory.
“I had the chance to have a small test with a Subaru last November while I was in the UK. My initial impressions were good and I was impressed by the handling and balance of the car. Before our season gets underway at Rally Portugal at the end of March, we will have a comprehensive two-day test with Symtech to learn the car and get it dialled in for my driving style. I have no doubts that as soon as we start the first stage in Portugal that we will pick up from where we left off last year.”
“Hayden’s choice of a Subaru is one we are all celebrating throughout the New Zealand dealer team,” says Wallis Dumper, managing director of Subaru of New Zealand, who initiated Paddon’s discussions regarding the move to Subaru.
“While Hayden’s sporting challenges take place offshore, we are proud to have helped in our own small way in supporting this campaign. I am sure every Kiwi will follow the black and silver fern-emblazoned Impreza with interest as Hayden takes on the rest of the world.
“Many will recall how with the invisible advantages of our All-Wheel-Drive, the late Possum Bourne made his mark on the rally sport world and this assault by Hayden’s team will certainly galvanise the interest of all our customers and our independently owned and operated Subaru dealerships throughout New Zealand. Rallying may not be every person’s favourite sport but if you are a Kiwi at heart, you just have to give these guys support.”
The New Zealand Subaru distributor will help keep the public aware of Paddon’s efforts in Europe and the rest of the world with regular rally reports and in doing so, Dumper suggests it may be another way to help support all those sponsors who have committed early and got behind the team.
“Subaru is the ‘confidence in motion’ brand and we trust those inherent qualities flow through to Hayden in achieving his 2011 goals in a Subaru.”
Finishing third overall in his first PWRC season is one important aspect of Paddon’s successful international debut. Another highlight was being named as one of the top ten world rally drivers who stood out in 2010 by David Evans, rallies editor with ‘motorsport bible’ Autosport magazine. Evans noted Paddon’s defining moment of the season during his second run at Mosselland in Germany where he had his first PWRC stage win on asphalt.
Both Paddon and Kennard acknowledge that their 2011 campaign will be their biggest test as a driver pairing yet as they tackle six events around the world against strong competition.
“The competition is looking a lot stronger this year,” notes Paddon. “As we found out last year, there is simply no room for error at this level. Where we had three or four teams fighting for victory last year, I feel the number of potential victors will double this year. This is great for the championship and also means that we have to work even harder to make our goal of winning the championship a reality.”
Paddon has nominated the following six PWRC events: Vodafone Rally de Portugal (24-27 March), Rally Argentina (26-29 May), Neste Oil Rally Finland (28-31 July), Rally Australia (8-11 Sept), Rally de Espana (20-23 Oct) and Wales Rally GB (10-13 Nov).
While not all the necessary budget is in place, Paddon’s campaign has been made possible with the formation of a new company, Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd (HPRG).
Directors Peter Anderson, Peter Swaney and UK-based Kevin Morris described the company as a great success, having attracted shareholders in the very short period of time that the company has been up and running.
“To watch Hayden’s progress over the previous years I believe that he can go a long way in the sport and to be a part of helping make it happen along with a group of shareholders is an exciting prospect,” said Anderson.
Swaney added: “We have a company plan in place to aid Hayden’s career for the next five years. While we are still working hard to put the final pieces of the puzzle together for this year, we have not lost sight of 2012 and 2013 which will be pivotal years as more manufacturers and opportunities become available in the World Rally Championship.”
Fellow company director and Paddon’s father, Chris Paddon added that the structure of the company, HPRG, is not just focused on 2011, but the long-term future as they help Hayden to the top level of rallying.
“This company gives both Hayden and his backers some certainty for his future. An added advantage is that Hayden can take a step back from the logistics and organisational side of things to focus more on his driving,” said Chris Paddon.
The New Zealand World Rally Team’s arrival on the world stage is an exciting venture that the entire team hopes will inspire the support of Kiwis – motorsport fans and more – all over the world.
At January’s Timaru event, Paddon also announced some of the partners supporting both the New Zealand World Rally Team’s international PWRC campaign and his national championship campaign – the details of which are still being finalised.
Radio Sport continues its partnership with the team, which started last year, and long-term partners EDL Fasteners and Castrol also continue for a fifth term with the likeable and very popular driver. A new partner, Raiseys Original sports food and nutrition, has joined the team as they look to promote their New Zealand-made and distributed sports supplements.
The team website, www.haydenpaddon.com, has been revamped with new imagery and information with the launch of the New Zealand World Rally Team.
Paddon skips Rally Sweden in a bid to find funds.
Rising New Zealand rally star Hayden Paddon is halfway to his goal of competing in the Production World Rally Championship this year, his father, Chris, says.
The Geraldine driver has been in a frantic bid since early last month to secure funding so he can accept a drive. European team RalliArt Italy have offered him a spot in the 2011 PWRC, but he needs $500,000 to compete in the seven-round series, which runs in conjunction with the World Rally Championship.
Paddon, 23, has been trying to sell shares in himself via his new company Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd. The firm has been trying to sell 30 shares to raise the cash needed in time for his opening round.
With the initial deadline of January 4 passed, and with Paddon and his company directors needing more time to sell the shares, which are priced at 10,000 Euro (NZ$17,375), the decision was made to extend the deadline.
Paddon said by dropping the opening round in Sweden, which begins on February 10, and picking up the Argentina rally, in late May, it would give his team time to secure more funding and still keep him in title contention, with each driver having to "drop" one of season's rounds.
"It's difficult and we were originally working on a January 4 deadline.
"We were going to start with the first round in Sweden and drop Argentina.
"[Fundraising began quite late] so we are going to miss Sweden and do Argentina. It buys us another four or five weeks," Hayden said.
Paddon will now start his PWRC campaign during round two, in Portugal, on March 27.
Chris Paddon said the response to his son's money-drive had been good, and they were halfway to selling the 30 shares required to get the venture off the ground.
He said they had got another company director on-board in the past week, in European-based Kevin Morris,
"International fundraising has gained a fair bit of traction in the last week or so, with a European-based director pushing our barrow," he said.
Chris Paddon said Morris was involved during the Prodrive days of rallying, negotiating several top driver contracts during the time.
He said Morris had made good progress in finding cash, despite the short period.
"He's probably done better than we have back here [in New Zealand] because Europe doesn't have such a long shutdown over the holiday period."
Chris Paddon said the new deadline to sell the remaining shares was now expected to be January 22.
On the same evening, South Cantabrians will be able to donate to the cause through a fundraising dinner for the rally driver.
Chris Paddon hoped an announcement could be made on the night that his son's European dream had been achieved.
More information about shares or the fundraiser dinner, contact Hayden - hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz
Young Kiwi rally star seeks financial traction
Hayden Paddon's European dream remains on track after the announcement of a new company to help get him to next season's Production World Rally Championship.
About two dozen people attended an informal meeting at Timaru's Grosvenor Hotel conference room yesterday evening, where Paddon, along with co-directors Peter Swaney, Peter Anderson and Paddon's father, Chris, announced the proposed share package for Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd.
The company is looking to sell 30 shares at €10,000 (NZ$17,963), which can be paid in four instalments over the next 18 months, but Anderson explained the company was a "five-year plan".
"Hayden is the best chance New Zealand has had in the sport for a long time.
"We are looking at possibly the future World Rally Championship winner here," he said.
"But Hayden needs some serious horsepower to get him there, this is not going to happen overnight."
Paddon has been offered a drive in the PWRC by RalliArt Italy but needs the cash to compete.
Should he get the funds, the 23-year-old driver from Geraldine will race in the Sweden, Portugal, Finland, Australia Spain and Great Britain rallies.
He finished third overall in this year's PWRC, but he said, considering the car he had, and what he had learnt, he had every chance of winning it next year.
"They knew that car wasn't made to win it this year.
"I'm the harshest critic of myself, I know I can do even better.
"We will have a real good shot next year," he said.
The company structure is very similar to what helped racing driver Scott Dixon start his international career, where shareholders were paid a percentage of Dixon's winnings, until he bought the shares back, and Paddon said they would operate in a similar way.
Anderson explained that the company was looking for serious, big-time national sponsors with an eye to the European market, as well as similarly inclined people who wanted to buy the shares.
Paddon said the biggest battle would be getting enough people to pledge before the January 4 entry deadline for the PWRC.
Most of the people at yesterday's meeting suggested various sponsors and contacts they could "connect with" to help Paddon realise his goal.
"That's where we bite the bullet," Paddon said. "By then we will know whether we have the traction to get this.
"We won't need to have all of it, but we will need to have enough."
But Paddon did not seem too fazed, although he admitted it was a "daunting" task. "As soon as you put on that racing helmet, nothing else matters. You're completely focused."
The team also have a fundrasier running through there website www.haydenpaddon.com where any donations, small or large will further help their 2011 campaign.
Paddon in race to sell shares
New Zealand's rising star of rallying, Hayden Paddon, is set to sell shares in himself.
It's an attempt to raise the $500,000 he needs to compete in next season's Production World Rally Championship, the support class of the world championship.
The 23-year-old from Geraldine has been between a rock and a hard place over his required budget for 2011, which has led him to make the unusual move.
Paddon has been offered a drive in the PWRC by RalliArt Italy but needs the cash to compete.
"We are trying very hard to put together the budget to go back and win the championship, which I feel is a very realistic goal, especially after the experience we gained this year," Paddon said.
He and co-driver John Kennard finished third in the production championship this year.
The sponsorship drive has yet to hit top gear and time is against them.
"We also decided at the weekend the share option was the way to go."
Later this week Paddon will be releasing details of where interested individuals can purchase shares in Hayden Paddon Rallysport Worldwide Ltd.
"The share price, how many and the company's directors will be announced together."
Paddon said the company structure is very similar to what helped racing driver Scott Dixon kickstart his international career.
In the Dixon deal, shareholders were paid a percentage of Dixon's winnings, until he bought the shares back, and Paddon said they would operate in a similar way.
"Yes, it is a high-risk investment and probably with nothing back for at least a couple of years, but I am hoping people will be interested. It is a unique type of investment."
Paddon is also hoping he can talk to Prime Minister John Key, in his role as Minister of Tourism, about some sort of sponsorship promoting New Zealand.
"The last rally in the championship had over 200,000 spectators and gets plenty of coverage in Europe.
"It would be good to promote New Zealand as a destination overseas; we have a lot of parallel goals."
Paddon's debut on the world stage was successful. He finished third overall in the PWRC and stood on the podium in five of the six events he contested.
He competed courtesy of a one-off Pirelli Rising Stars Scholarship, but in 2011 he is on his own.
The shares appear the only way he will be able to return to Europe to compete.
Paddon battling to secure budget for world rally campaign
New Zealand’s leading rally driver Hayden Paddon has been doing a lot of head scratching recently as he and his team work to secure a budget to return to the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) in 2011. Geraldine’s Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, from Blenheim, finished a highly respectable third place in their first attempt at the PWRC after finishing on the podium on five of the six events. This is the best result ever achieved by a New Zealand rally driver on the world stage. Now their aim is to return to the production car championship for 2011 with just one target in mind – to win. "We’ve had a huge year of learning in 2010 which put us in a fantastic position to attack the championship next year," says Paddon. "I know that I am a much better driver now – the range of things I’ve had the opportunity to learn about and perfect this year has been amazing and inspiring. I know – and this opinion is backed by some of the sport’s experts – that it is a very realistic goal to chase the championship title next year." Paddon has been offered a drive by one of the top teams to return to the PWRC, but admits that the budget needed to do this is proofing difficult to source. "We had been working on some plans for the 2011 WRC for several months which unfortunately fell over a couple of weeks ago. Since then we have been offered this opportunity with a leading PWRC team, but the budget to compete at this level is substantial." Paddon, with the management and logistical support of his family-based team, was planning to form a New Zealand world rally team to take on the 2011 World Rally Championship. The aim was to approach businesses that either trade with or have a significant interest in New Zealand. Similar to the concept used by the yachting team, Emirates Team New Zealand, Paddon is excited by the prospect of representing New Zealand at the pinnacle of rallying. "I believe that we can go further in the sport towards my ultimate goal and winning the 2011 PWRC would be a step towards that. By also forming a New Zealand rally team it gives us a point of difference while also promoting the country of which I immensely proud of." A budget of $NZ 500,000 is expected to put together a full PWRC programme. Paddon admits this is a daunting figure, but also points out that the value that can be gained for investors has the potential to far exceed the initial sum invested. "Yes, it is a lot of money, but when you see just how big the rallying is as a sport in some of the countries we visited this year you get a true understanding of the size and passion of the fans following this iconic form of motorsport. In countries like Finland and Germany, rallying is to them like rugby is to New Zealand. "The WRC is where I want to be and, together with a group of people helping me, we are working really hard to stay there. We are just finding it very difficult at present to put together a family of sponsors that can make the most of a strong commercial relationship with a professional team like ours. We want to work with companies where exposure in countries like Sweden, Portugal, Argentina, Finland, Australia, Spain and Great Britain along with New Zealand can bring them the value they seek," he concluded. With the first round in the 2011 production championship scheduled for 10 to 13 February in Sweden Paddon knows he’s also battling a short deadline. Paddon and his team welcome ideas and suggestions as they continue their quest to secure the necessary budget to fight for the title of 2011 Production World Rally Champion. Paddon can be contacted on 027 318 1748 or
hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz
.
Paddon secures third in PWRC in debut season
Top Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon fought back from mechanical woes to finish third in class in his final international event for 2010 and confirm third place overall in his first attempt at the FIA Production World Rally Championship. Paddon’s championship podium position is the best result a New Zealander has ever achieved in a world rally championship series. The attention-grabbing result highlights the exceptionally consistent, strong performances the 23-year-old from Geraldine has delivered throughout his first full season of international level rallying. Paddon and Blenheim-based co-driver John Kennard tackled the World Rally Championship finale, Wales Rally Great Britain, in their final outing as Pirelli Star Drivers. With third place in the championship secure, Paddon’s goal was to go all out for a PWRC class win in the notoriously challenging Welsh event. The two-time New Zealand rally champion had issues with his Pirelli-backed Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X in the rally’s opening two stages, but managed to set reasonable times. With small set-up changes, Paddon said the car’s handling and pace improved on stage four. "Unfortunately we didn’t get a further chance to press on as halfway through that stage we hit a big rock, which smashed a trailing arm on the rear suspension. The midday remote service rules say you can use only the parts carried in the car and we couldn’t fix it without a complete hub assembly, so we strapped it up with two tie straps and drove on through the day’s final three stages. With the wheel literally holding on by a thread, we managed to lose only four minutes to fellow Pirelli Star Driver Ott Tanak, who took the PWRC lead at the end of day one, which wasn’t too bad." From his overnight position of seventh, Paddon struggled with handing issues on the repaired car on day two, but kept tweaking and pushing throughout the day to take his only stage win on the day’s final stage, and improve his PWRC position to fourth. Overnight rain made the third day’s stages very wet and as cars passed, the roads became increasingly muddy. "It was a matter of setting a steady pace to get to the finish," says Paddon. "When fellow competitor Martin Semerad crashed out in the morning we were elevated to third which, after lying seventh at the end of day one, we wouldn't have thought possible. The result was a small consolation after another 'what could have been' event, but nevertheless the learning experience has been massive and will put us in good stead for future WRC events."
Pirelli Star Driver supervisor Phil Short commented: "It was a great shame for Hayden, he was running very well in the morning before his suspension problem, but, once again, he has shown very good pace on this rally setting times in the top three of PWRC on days two and three." Mario Isola, Pirelli motorsport manager, said: "It’s been another very successful season for the Pirelli Star Drivers and having Ott and Hayden on the podium here [in Wales] is great news and a great endorsement of the programme. This is typically a very tough rally to come and compete on for the first time and none of the drivers had ever seen these stages in competition before. Ott and Hayden have shown themselves to be the pace-setters, confirming what we saw for the rest of the year." Paddon’s third place in the overall PWRC standings means he achieved his pre-season goal of a podium finish in his debut WRC season. "Our Pirelli Star Driver programme is now finished – it’s been quite an experience this year and the amount I have learnt has been second to none. In general I am happy with the season, but I know that there is still a lot left in the tank and to know that we are already competitive is very encouraging." Paddon thanks the whole Ralliart Italy team which prepared his Pirelli Star Driver Mitsubishi. "I also thank Pirelli for making this opportunity possible for me! And huge thanks to John, who has done an excellent job all year and has put in a lot of hard work and huge thanks to the many, many New Zealanders who have showed their support. It has been an honour to fly the New Zealand flag in the WRC." Paddon continues to work on his plans for the 2011 season, seeking to establish his own WRC programme. "We’ll be back in New Zealand shortly and, around meetings for our 2011 plans, I’m scheduled to participate in some promotional events in Auckland and Christchurch to publicise the new WRC game. I hope to announce firm plans for 2011 in the coming weeks."
The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, Ralliart Italy, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus,?Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries.
Paddon targets outright speed in WRC Rally GB
Demonstrating his outright speed is the key goal for New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon as he lines up for the final World Rally Championship round of the season, Wales Rally GB.
Paddon, the 23-year-old two-time New Zealand rally champion from Geraldine, is one of five Pirelli Star Drivers who won the opportunity to contest six WRC events in the 2010 season. Paddon secured funding to add two other WRC events to his calendar and thus be eligible to earn points in the 2010 FIA Production World Rally Championship – one of just a handful of New Zealanders to ever contest the WRC feeder series.
Paddon goes into the season finale – four days in length on the traditionally wet, slippery roads around Cardiff in Wales – as the third-placed driver in the PWRC standings.
After a disappointing run thwarted by mechanical issues at the last round at Rally France, Paddon’s hopes of challenging for the PWRC title were dashed. Yet with his trademark determination, he’s refocused his goals for the Welsh event.
"Yes, it was disappointing in France, but the championship title isn’t a priority now. We [Paddon and co-driver John Kennard from Blenheim] have no chance of winning and, realistically, no one remembers who gets second or third," says Paddon from his temporary base in the United Kingdom.
"We have achieved our goal from the start of this season and that’s for a top three PWRC placing. We achieved that prior to the last rally in France, so in that respect this season’s performance has met our expectations.
"The goal for Wales Rally GB is to try and win the PWRC category," states the ever-improving, determined Paddon. "But we know this will be very difficult as the competition is very tough with defending PWRC champion Armindo Araujo, second-placed Patrik Flodin and fellow Pirelli Star Driver Ott Tanak all gunning for the same result."
Paddon has been described by international media as ‘
a model of consistency in his first season in the series’. Despite contesting most of his 2010 events for the first time, he’d delivered a class win and three top three places before the challenges of Rally France when he finished seventh.
"We have started Rally GB before – in 2007 – but only managed five kilometres of the first stage, so this is our first serious tilt at this prestigious, well-known event. We do know that the roads are very slippery and we’re certainly expecting wet conditions. The roads tend to be a little rough and cut up in places, but after events like Japan they’ll seem smooth!" Since Rally France at the beginning of October, Paddon has remained in the UK. His preparation for Rally GB has involved studying footage and work on pace notes. He’s also been working on his 2011 plans and chasing up opportunities and meetings that could help him put together a competitive rally season next year. After Rally GB, Paddon returns to New Zealand to consolidate his 2011 plans. Given his first-ever attempt at the FIA Production World Rally Championship has resulted in, at the minimum, a very strong third place, many Kiwi rally fans will be looking forward to hearing the details of competitive programme this talented and popular driver plans to tackle next.
The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, Ralliart Italy, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus, Andar the Front Store, Alpinestar by Chicane, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries.
"I am solely focused on being the fastest I possibly can be at every event, but I think I have some more development to do to get to that stage. Our team-mate, Ott, is very quick and it’s been very good for me to have that challenge of striving to match his pace. Back on gravel, Ott will again be very quick. We’re putting ourselves up for comparison to Ott as he is someone that’s being talked about a lot within the WRC community and as we’re in identical cars, we naturally have to compare well to his performance.
Paddon toughs it out to finish WRC France
It wasn’t the result Hayden Paddon was looking for on his first attempt at Rallye de France, the World Rally Championship event he contested as a Pirelli Star Driver over the weekend of 1 to 3 October. The young Kiwi rally star suffered mechanical woes and challenging conditions to finish seventh in the Production World Rally Championship category in France, losing the chance to fight for the championship victory at the final WRC rally of the season, Rally Great Britain, in November.
Paddon was excited to start the French event for the first time, with the rally having moved from its long-time home in Corsica to Strasbourg near the German border. Paddon and co-driver John Kennard’s two days of reconnaissance highlighted the speed needed to do well on the mostly wide tarmac roads, with the 23-year-old saying: " The stages are grouse! They are in complete contrast to Germany, the biggest difference being the speed. Most of the stages have extremely fast sections that are also very wide, requiring smooth lines and a lot of commitment to get the best speed. There are also a lot of cuts that, once the WRC cars have negotiated them in front of us, will see a lot of mud and rubbish dragged onto the road."
The New Zealanders started the first day very strongly, winning the first three stages and opened up a lead of 13 seconds.
However the Kiwi ended the day hugely disappointed, as the alternator in his Pirelli-sponsored Mitsubishi failed, leaving him unable to finish the day’s stages. Paddon had won the first afternoon stage by 0.6 seconds. "But on the next, the car began to drop power and the warning lights for low battery voltage came on. On the road section we tried everything we could to fix the problem and managed to start the next stage, albeit with a battery indicator showing just 11 volts. The car seriously lacked power and instruments starting to stop working. Despite that our time was still surprisingly good and we recovered to second-placed PWRC. How we were going to get through the final stage and the 100km road section back to service, we didn’t know. In the end, the car died on the road section despite us jump-starting it many times and trying to make temporary repairs." With the alternator replaced, Paddon was able to restart on day two under SupeRally regulations, copping a ten minute time penalty. Sadly for the two-time New Zealand rally champion, things simply got worse. A spin off the mud-slicked tarmac left his car with a crushed exhaust and limited power, then three punctures meant Paddon and Kennard had no spare replacement tyres and were again unable to finish the day. With repairs made during the lunch-time service, Paddon assessed his own driving style during the next two stages. "I felt I was attacking the tighter corners too much, thereby losing exit speed. The next stage was much better, being less aggressive on the corners helped and we were possibly on target to win the stage until – you wouldn’t read about it – we punctured again! With two punctures and only one spare, we had no option but to pull out for the day... again." With another ten minute SupeRally time penalty and just four stages scheduled for the rally’s final and third day, there was no hope of catching the leader, defending PWRC champion Armindo Araújo, who romped home for an easy class win despite the tricky conditions. "Too many spectators meant the second 24km run was cancelled so effectively the day consisted of only one proper stage, but it was still incredibly difficult with a lot of mud on top of smooth, new asphalt, which made it like ice in many places. Combined with small problem we had with the car meant we spun fully three times, but surprisingly still set a competitive time. "What can you say about this sort of event? You’ve just got to put it down to experience," concluded Paddon who continues to hold third place in the PWRC standings, but no longer has the opportunity to fight for the championship title at Rally Great Britain. "It’s been a very frustrating rally. Considering where we were after stage three on the first day it has been a steep fall and I am a little lost for words. "Of course I am very disappointed and the six points that we salvaged for seventh in PWRC is not enough to keep our title chances alive. That is the worst part; one bad round and all the hard work earlier in the year is to no avail. "But, in saying that, it’s happened and I now I must focus both on securing a budget to allow us to try to win a world title next year and on Rally Great Britain. I’m really fired up for the PWRC final in Wales and showing what we can do. It will also be good to be back on my preferred surface, gravel, with effectively nothing to lose." Before the 12 to 14 November event, Paddon is staying in the UK having arranged some work experience in a rally workshop while he tries to progress plans for next year. Rally Great Britain is Paddon’s last event of the season where the young Kiwi looks set to finish his first-ever attempt at the FIA Production World Rally Championship in third place, which is still a significant achievement despite the challenges that Rallye de France threw Paddon’s way. The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, Ralliart Italy, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus,?Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Alpinestars, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries. ENDS/ "The surprising thing was that it was all happening so easily and there was a lot left in the tank, with places where we could drive a lot faster," says Paddon. "Unfortunately, on stage four we had a front left puncture with five kilometres before we could change it. Now 40 seconds down, we lost the PWRC lead, but I was confident we could claw back the lost time lost, so rather than going out for the afternoon’s stages on full attack, we decided just to keep doing what we were doing and let the times come to us."
Paddon prepares to step-up at WRC Rally France
Hayden Paddon, the young New Zealand rally driver making a name for himself on the world stage, is set to tackle the tarmac roads of the French round of the World Rally Championship which runs from 1 to 3 October. Rallye de France has moved from its long-time home on the island of Corsica to a new base in the city of Strasbourg in the Alscae region near the German border. This means that Paddon and co-driver John Kennard are not alone in contesting the three days of rally stages for the first time. Every single competitor, from six-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb down through the field, faces their first-ever run on the event’s unique combination of 353 km of competitive stages. "The fact everyone’s doing this event for the first time is a real leveller," says the Geraldine-based Paddon as he prepares to fly back to Europe. The 23-year-old is not fazed by facing yet another new international rally which takes the field through mountainous, mixed seal roads. "We have always gone well on new events as we tend to write good pace notes on our first visit to a rally," says the two-time New Zealand rally champion. "We’ll look to do the same in France. This event is now very close to where the German WRC rally was run – basically opposite sides of the border. We have heard that there are many surface changes on the tarmac roads. This could make things difficult, particularly if it rains and it is autumn there, so there’s definitely a possibility of rain." Paddon is in a three-way battle for the final PWRC podium positions with two other quick drivers, defending PWRC champion Armindo Araújo, from Portugal, and hard-charging Patrik Flodin, from Sweden. Flodin took the PWRC series lead at the last round in Japan while Paddon, holding third, moved closer to Araújo’s second place. Paddon is gunning for the PWRC class win in France. "We are in a position in the championship where we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We have to target a good result on this event – John and I will be throwing everything and the kitchen sink at this rally!" The French event is one of the six Pirelli Star Driver events Paddon contests this year, as well as being a round of the PWRC. This mean he drives the Ralliart Italy-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X rally car on this event, compared to his own Team Green EVO IX he drove in Japan just two weeks ago. "The thing with the Production series is that each competitor nominates six of nine WRC events they want to contest. So Patrik isn’t competing in France, but Armindo is. This gives us a chance to take the lead in the championship but, in saying that, Armindo is very fast and he also won the PWRC class in Germany. So, realistically, we have our work cut out for us, but if we can pick up where we left off in Germany – where we won six of the 18 special stages and learnt alot – I feel we have a chance. The championship points’ structure certainly rewards wins and, although we have consistently been on the podium, we need a win to have a chance of taking the championship lead." Between his international commitments, Paddon has been working hard to try and confirm plans to drive in next year’s World Rally Championship when his Pirelli Star Driver scholarship will be finished. "I’m staying in the United Kingdom for the five weeks between Rally France and Rally Great Britain, and hope to attend the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event in Scotland and WRC Rally Spain as a spectator. These are great opportunities to meet and talk with more people, as we’re working really hard to put together a package to stay in the WRC in 2011." Rally Great Britain is Paddon’s last event of the season where the young Kiwi will finish his first-ever attempt at the FIA Production World Rally Championship in one of the top-three slots. The question is which podium step will he attain.
The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, Ralliart Italy, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus, Andar the Front Store, Alpinestars, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries. ENDS/ Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar 16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD) – 1st PSD, 26th overall, 7th Group N 6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC) – 1st PWRC, 13th overall, 1st Kiwi 28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD) – 1st PSD, 20th overall, 3rd Group N 2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand – 1st overall, 1st APRC, 1st NZRC 29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC) - 2nd PSD, 21st overall, 3rd PWRC 20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC) – 1st PSD, 2nd PWRC, 19th overall 10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC) – 2nd PWRC, 12th overall 30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC) 11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC) Images of Paddon and Kennard in action can be found on
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Paddon scores another PWRC podium in Japan
Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard finished second in the Production World Rally Championship class at Rally Japan over the weekend. The New Zealanders overcame two very testing days of competition to secure stage wins in seven of the third day’s eight stages and finish the three-day rally in 12th position overall, just one place behind their main rival in the production category, Patrik Flodin from Sweden. "It has been a very hard weekend, but it is great to get a strong finish and good championship points at the end of it all," said Paddon, from Geraldine, who was contesting Rally Japan for the first time.
"I did a lot better as the event went on. The car improved a lot too. I need to pick up the pace though and try and win PWRC in France or Great Britain. I won’t be holding anything back – you can’t afford to with guys as fast as Flodin and [defending PWRC champion Armindo] Araújo around." Paddon still holds third position in the PWRC series, while the 25 points that Flodin earned for winning the production class in Japan have moved him ahead of Araújo on the leader-board. However Flodin has just one nominated PWRC event, Great Britain, left to run, while Paddon and Araújo are both contesting France and Great Britain. With the fourth-placed competitor over 30 points behind him, Paddon seems likely to finish the season third or better in his first attempt at the World Rally Championship feeder series. The Japanese event ran around the Hokkaido Island city of Sapporo with the narrow, bumpy, tree-lined roads providing competitors with numerous challenges. "On the morning stages we struggled alot with the car’s set-up. I couldn’t make it do anything that I wanted it to, but then one of our main rivals, [former PWRC champion] Toshi Arai crashed, so we moved up to second in PWRC behind Patrik Flodin." Paddon’s team made numerous changes to the car during the service break, transforming the car and giving Paddon the chance to build speed and confidence. "The repeated afternoon stages were so rough and unlike anything I have seen so far in my rallying. The surface is very soft and sandy, with wheel ruts deeper than the car’s doorsills, so we kept bottoming out. The rough conditions broke our front suspension on stage seven, so we nursed the car through the final stages to service without inflicting further damage." Starting the second day two minutes behind PWRC leader Patrik Flodin, Paddon knew it was a tall order to close in and put pressure on him. So the two-time New Zealand champion aimed to consolidate his second place while also learning more about Japan’s new surface, work on the car set-up and gain further confidence. "The day started off well, winning the first stage which the roughest stage of the day. The following two had a much harder base, so they cut up less. On the longest stage of the rally, 34 km, things were going well and our splits were good. But 12 km from the end we began to lose the brakes and a further two km later we had absolutely no brakes, front or rear. With a large gap back to the third-placed competitor, we drove slowly to the end of the stage using the gearbox as brakes. This dropped us a further one and a half minutes behind Flodin. "Between stages John and I made emergency repairs to give us the front brakes for the last ten km stage before service. Amazingly, we were still second quickest, just five seconds off Flodin’s fastest time. They went on to win all three afternoon gravel stages. Paddon’s goal for Sunday was primarily to get to the finish while working on his speed without taking risks. That goal was largely achieved as Paddon won seven of the day’s eight stages from Flodin. "The day's longest stage – only 17 km – was so twisty, slippery and rough?that it took almost 16 minutes to complete! It was good to have a clean day on the third day and make more progress with the car." Paddon acknowledged Flodin’s excellent drive. "Patrik never put a foot wrong, but without our suspension and brake failures on the first two days, things could have been a lot closer than our finishing margin of two minutes and 45 seconds behind him. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the result. John and I have achieved four podium finishes in our four PWRC rounds so far this season, so we are in a strong championship position going into the final two rounds." Paddon’s Team Green Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX took a battering on the Japanese road. "They are some of the roughest roads that I have ever driven. Our survival is due to a huge effort from our team, who did a fantastic job to keep us going. Thanks also to thank John, who again did a fantastic job. We seem to have sorted out the pace note issues we were having earlier in the year. Lastly, big thanks to both Rally New Zealand’s Rising Stars award and Cameron Sea and Airfreight for making this event possible for us, and ultimately giving us a shot at the PWRC championship." Paddon’s third place in the PWRC championship sees the 23-year-old Kiwi with a narrower points’ deficit to leader Flodin. "We’ll be on maximum attack to take top PWRC points in France at the beginning of October. This is another tarmac rally with the Pirelli Star Driver team. With one victory and three podiums from four starts, we are in a strong position. Now it’s a matter of lifting our game and pushing for victory – as with any championship, particularly a world championship, we have to give it a go!" Paddon has just eight days in New Zealand before heading back to Europe for Rally France. The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, Ralliart Italy, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus,?Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries. ENDS/ Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar 16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD) – 1st PSD, 26th overall, 7th Group N 6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC) – 1st PWRC, 13th overall, 1st Kiwi 28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD) – 1st PSD, 20th overall, 3rd Group N 2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand – 1st overall, 1st APRC, 1st NZRC 29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC) - 2nd PSD, 21st overall, 3rd PWRC 20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC) – 1st PSD, 2nd PWRC, 19th overall 10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC) – 2nd PWRC, 12th overall 30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC) 11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC) Images of Paddon and Kennard in action can be found on
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Another first as Paddon tackles WRC Japan
Hayden Paddon, the young rally driver from Geraldine in New Zealand’s South Island, lines up for his first run in the Japanese round of the World Rally Championship on 10 September. Paddon is currently third in the Production World Rally Championship category and is gunning for maximum points from the Japanese event to give him top-equal points in his first attempt at the global WRC feeder series. The talented Kiwi tackles Rally Japan in his own Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX and, with co-driver John Kennard, forms one of the top teams in the Production World Rally Championship category at this event. Even though it’s the first time Paddon will drive the rally route on Japan’s Hokkaido Island, he and Kennard will continue their process of thorough preparation and seamless teamwork just as they have in each of the rallies they’ve tackled for the first time this season. After a well-deserved second place at the most recent PWRC round in Germany, the two-time New Zealand rally champion has demonstrated increasing confidence and pace in every world championship rally he’s contested this year. While aiming to improve his position in the production category, Paddon must take into account other top PWRC competitors like former PWRC champion Japanese driver Toshi Arai, who’s currently fourth, and Patrick Flodin, who’s currently second. "Toshi Arai, being on home turf, will be very fast. Also Patrick Flodin, who is ahead of us in the championship, has done the event before and is also very quick. So it will be a tough battle to get that maximum 25 points for the top PWRC slot, but that’s our goal. "If we can achieve that objective, we go into the final two rounds tied at the top of the table with current leader Armindo Araújo who is not doing this event, which puts us in a very strong position for the overall PWRC title, especially as both Flodin and Araújo have only two more PWRC events to do while we have three, including this one.
"But without getting too far ahead of ourselves, winning here will be like trying to win in Finland, so we certainly have a challenge ahead. But I am confident; I know that car will be good so I feel we have a good chance to do well." This year, Paddon has been competing as a Pirelli Star Driver, a world-wide driver development programme which offers five young drivers the chance to contest six WRC events. Four of these PSD events count for the PWRC, but drivers need to compete in a minimum of six PWRC events. Paddon contested Rally New Zealand – winning the production category – and now Rally Japan is the second of the events that Paddon and his Team Green crew are contesting in their own right. This sees Paddon back in his own championship-winning Mitsubishi, which was shipped to Japan after the team won another New Zealand event, the International Rally of Whangarei, in July. "It’s good to be back in the EVO IX. It’s like an old glove and just a really nice car to drive. Before the car left New Zealand, it had a major rebuild. To help with parts allocation (given our modest budget) we ran a lot of older parts on the car for Whangarei but, for Japan, we have all the newer bits on and the whole team has done a great job in rebuilding the car in the short space of time we had before the shipping deadline. We’ve also further developed the car’s set-up, particularly with the suspension and diff maps, for the rougher conditions we expect to encounter in Japan." Paddon says the weather in Japan has been very hot recently. "But it’s also hurricane season, so the weather can turn in the blink of an eye. When the roads are wet, they tend to cut up a lot and become very rutted. We will just have to deal with those conditions if they occur, but generally the roads look nice – fast and narrow in places. Any gravel under the wheels is always good!" Rally Japan starts with one of the most spectacular super special stages of the year, which run inside and outside the futuristic-looking Sapporo Dome sports stadium twice on the Thursday evening. Day one and day two take competitors to the south of rally HQ at the Sapporo Dome with day three’s stages to the north-east with a total of 303.54 competitive kilometres.
Paddon says that this year, as a Pirelli Star Driver and his PWRC campaign as a whole, has been fantastic so far. "The amount I have learned and have developed as a driver has been incredible. The amazing thing is to think that we have done only half of our PWRC campaign – three of six rounds – so there is still a long way to go for us. Our eyes are certainly still on winning the PWRC as we have a good platform to work off for the second half of the season." The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, Ralliart Italy, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus,?Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Alpinestars, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries. ENDS/ Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar 16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD) – 1st PSD, 26th overall, 7th Group N 6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC) – 1st PWRC, 13th overall, 1st Kiwi 28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD) – 1st PSD, 20th overall, 3rd Group N 2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand – 1st overall, 1st APRC, 1st NZRC 29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC) - 2nd PSD, 21st overall, 3rd PWRC 20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC) – 1st PSD, 2nd PWRC, 19th overall 10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC) 30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC) 11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC)
Paddon takes well-deserved second in production class at WRC Germany
New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon finished an exceptionally-strong second place in the production class of the challenging all-tarmac World Rally Championship event, Rallye Deutschland, which ran from 20 to 23 August. The result delighted the 23-year-old from Geraldine who was quick to gain confidence in his first-ever all-tarmac event despite facing the notorious challenges of the tricky, ever-changing tarmac roads for which the German WRC event is renowned. With Blenheim’s John Kennard in the co-driver’s seat, Paddon’s self-assured performance saw him win six of the event’s 18 stages against fellow FIA Production World Rally Championship competitors and finish 19th overall. The 18 points Paddon earned for the production category’s second place keeps him in third place in the overall PWRC standings, closing on second-place holder Patrik Flodin, from Sweden. Rally commentators described Paddon’s performance as "exceptional", with the two-time New Zealand rally champion comfortably the fastest and most consistent of the five Pirelli Star Drivers contesting the event. Paddon is extremely happy with his German result, which keeps him firmly in the race for this year’s PWRC title. "Leading into the event, we were unsure what our pace would be, as this was our first tarmac rally. But after spending the first day learning the feeling in the car, my confidence in the amount of grip on offer came very quickly," Paddon said. "The result has completely exceeded my expectations. We remain in third in the championship, but have closed in on second-placed Patrik Flodin, who was third here this weekend. However, we still have an extra nominated PWRC round up our sleeve while the two drivers ahead of us – Armindo Araujo and Flodin – have already done four of their six nominated events. When we head to Rally Japan in just three weeks’ time, for our fourth PWRC round with our own Team Green car, we’ll be aiming for maximum points." Portuguese driver Armindo Araujo won the PWRC class in Germany and continues to hold the PWRC series lead with 83 points. Flodin has 65 points with Paddon on 58 points. A class win in Japan, and its 25 points, would put Paddon in a very strong championship position, although he must compete against Flodin and former PWRC champion Toshi Arai. Arai, who holds fourth place in the PWRC standings, will have the advantage of his home event while Paddon will again be contesting another new rally. Paddon’s success in Germany was helped by commencing the event with one of the Pirelli Star Driver test days on the Monday. Paddon made the most of the chance for a full-speed test on tarmac for the first time through a short stretch of tight hairpin turns on a vineyard road. Paddon said: "The biggest thing we found was the difference in performance between the hard and soft compound tyres. For WRC tarmac events you can use both two compound Pirellis, but you’re only allocated 16 soft tyres, so you have to choose where you do and don't use them, even if it is wet everywhere. On the damp road today the soft compound tyres were two seconds per kilometre faster than the hard ones, so tyre choice is absolutely crucial!" The following two days of reconnaissance highlighted just how tricky, tight and narrow the event’s roads are. "They are also very undulating, which is very hard on the brakes." Paddon and Kennard also got their first run through the famous Arena Panzerplatte stage, the longest WRC stage at 48 km in length. "This stage is something special; a Mickey Mouse affair through an army test area, with 98 junctions, broken tarmac, gravel, concrete and smooth tarmac. With the road ducking and darting at different junctions, it could be very easy to overshoot a junction." Day one saw Paddon and Kennard gain confidence and speed with every stage to finish the day 21st overall, second in the production class and the leading Pirelli Star Driver. He was also well ahead of Ott Tanak, who has been his toughest Pirelli Star Driver competition to date. Tanak then went out with a broken steering arm and had to restart under SupeRally regulations. Day two saw Paddon score another PWRC stage win on the first run through the Panzerplatte stage and he arrived at the lunchtime service having narrowed the gap to PWRC leader Araujo from 32 seconds to 15 seconds. "We went with the hard compound tyre in the afternoon as road temperatures were reaching 40 degrees. Some of our competition ran the soft tyre and took time out of us on the shorter first stage of the loop, but we recovered it all in the next two stages, winning them both." Paddon added that as he began to push harder he needed to make chassis adjustments to his Ralliart Italy-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X to counter under-steer. "Prior to the event I didn’t change the car a lot, as it was doing everything that I wanted, but now, once you start braking later and carrying more corner speed, the chassis is more vital to get that last little bit. So all this fine-tuning is a good learning curve." Day three started with Paddon trailing Araujo by 23.8 seconds. "The plan was to push on the first stage and see if we could make any inroads. It wasn't a perfect stage for us, but we did take 1.8 seconds from the lead, then we dead-heated on the next stage to arrive at service still 22.2 seconds behind with only two stages left. So the final stages were a matter of consolidating, but still keeping the pressure on, in case the leader made any mistakes." Pirelli Star Driver supervisor Phil Short said he was extremely pleased with Paddon. "He has driven tremendously well throughout the event. And I have to admit I have been quite surprised at the pace he has shown. He came to an event he didn’t know and, really, a surface where he’d never competed before and he carried the fight to the reigning Production Car World Rally Champion Armindo Araújo." Paddon now remains in Europe before heading to their next PWRC event in Japan, which runs from 10 to 12 September. This event isn’t one of the scheduled Pirelli Star Driver events, so Paddon uses his own championship-winning Mitsubishi EVO IX in which he won the PWRC class during Rally New Zealand in May this year. Following Japan, Paddon heads back to Europe for the final two Pirelli Star Driver and PWRC rounds of the season, Rally France and Rally Great Britain. "Our next Pirelli Star Driver round – Rally France – is also on tarmac and now I can approach this with a lot of confidence as tarmac is a surface that I now really enjoy driving on," concludes Paddon. The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, Ralliart Italy, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus,?Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Alpine Star by Chicane, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries.
ENDS/ Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar 16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD) – 1st PSD, 26th overall, 7th Group N 6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC) – 1st PWRC, 13th overall, 1st Kiwi 28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD) – 1st PSD, 20th overall, 3rd Group N 2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand – 1st overall, 1st APRC, 1st NZRC 29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC) - 2nd PSD, 21st overall, 3rd PWRC 20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC) – 1st PSD, 2nd PWRC, 19th overall 10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC) 30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC) 11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC)
Paddon heads for first run at all-tarmac WRC Germany
Hayden Paddon, the young New Zealander making a name for himself in the international rally scene, is currently preparing for the all-tarmac challenges of Rallye Deutschland (Rally Germany). Paddon, from Geraldine, and co-driver John Kennard, from Blenheim, contest the German event for the first time when it takes place over the weekend of 20 to 22 August. The top Kiwi pairing compete as one of the five Pirelli Star Drivers in the Ralliart Italy-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X and aim to add to their Production World Rally Championship points’ haul. Paddon is currently third on the PWRC standings after finishing the best of the production category drivers in New Zealand and third in this class in Finland at the end of July. Rally Germany, which is held around the city of Trier near Germany’s border of Luxembourg, is the third of Paddon’s six nominated PWRC events in 2010. "Being our first proper tarmac event, we are very much going into the unknown," acknowledges the 23-year-old double New Zealand rally champion. "Our expectations are a lot lower than in earlier gravel events as the German rally is known for being tricky with the widest variety of sealed surfaces among the events on this year’s World Rally Championship calendar." Paddon says, as in Finland, actual experience on the rally’s roads play a vital role. "People with previous experience on this event will be very fast and we are also aware of how the road conditions will change between our reconnaissance runs to the rally itself. In recce, the roads will all look clean, but once the WRC cars have passed over the stages in competition – cutting corners and dragging dirt and stones on to the seal – a lot of corners will be very slippery. So it’s not only a matter of visualising what lines we want to take, but identifying where the WRC drivers will cut corners and how this may affect our best lines during recce." Paddon has stayed in Europe since the Finnish event continuing his fitness training, talking to team managers, preparing for Germany and taking time out to relax. He heads to Germany for a test day with fellow Pirelli Star Drivers on the Monday before the event when he’s looking forward to more time in the car on tarmac. "From my experiences on the Targa Rally in New Zealand last year, I know that I’ll have to change my driving style on tarmac to help preserve the tyres and brakes. That is even more important in the heavier Group N production cars, especially for the brakes. As I found on Targa last year, to go fast on tarmac you almost have to drive slower." Paddon has been reviewing in-car footage from the German stages, observing that each leg of the rally is unique. "It’s almost like three different rallies – from smooth tarmac to cobblestone and tight twisty vineyard roads to fast army tracks." Paddon is seeded 27th, immediately behind current PWRC series leader, Portuguese driver Armindo Araujo in a similar Mitsubishi, while fellow Pirelli Star Driver Ott Tanak, from Estonia, is two places behind Paddon. "We’ve never before compared ourselves against the other PWRC teams on tarmac so it’s difficult to know where we stand. The primary goal is another good haul of championship points. Currently being third in PWRC points, we’re starting to see that if we have a couple more good rounds, we may be in a good championship position for the final part of the season. "A big part of this event for John and me is also to learn and improve with every tarmac stage we complete. Our next Pirelli event is Rally France at the beginning of October – this is also on tarmac, so we’re keen to maximise the opportunity for learning in Germany while also trying to deliver a solid result."
The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus,?Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Alpine Star by Chicane, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries. ? Images of Paddon and Kennard in action can be found on
.
PWRC podium for Paddon in Finland
New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon has moved into third place on the FIA Production World Rally Championship drivers’ points-table after a very solid performance in his first ever attempt at Rally Finland, which ran from 29 to 31 July. The notoriously fast rally saw the Geraldine-based 23-year-old and co-driver John Kennard, from Blenheim, competing alongside Pirelli Star Driver team-mates in the PWRC category. Paddon finished third among the eleven production car class competitors and 21st overall. While being pleased to achieve his goal of a PWRC podium position, the ambitious two-time New Zealand rally champion admits he’d hoped for more. "It was a great result that completed our goal of a podium finish on this difficult event," said Paddon. "Other than a puncture in the very last stage, everything generally went well. However, the thing I was struggling with most on the first day was the driving rhythm and making everything gel together with the car, pace notes and my driving. "Although finishing third in the PWRC class fulfils what we wanted to achieve from this event – it gives us really good points to move into third in the PWRC standings – I do feel a little disappointed with our speed," said the very focused and determined driver. "I definitely underestimated how difficult it would be competing here for the first time and just how quick the Scandinavians are on this specialised event." Paddon takes away a lot of valuable experience from the two-day, high speed rally and is more determined than ever to ensure he has the opportunity to compete in this and other World Rally Championship events in 2011.
Paddon and Kennard both found the full-on Finnish fans an invigorating experience. "The spectators here have been absolutely crazy. It is like the whole of Finland has come to the rally to party. The spectators today wouldn't just be counted in the thousands, but hundreds of thousands. And it’s been fantastic to see several New Zealand flags being waved and to share this result with my family and the Rally Tours NZ group who have all enjoyed this 60th running of Rally Finland." From Finland, Paddon’s next event is Rallye Deutschland in three weeks’ time, another combined Pirelli Star Driver and PWRC event. Paddon is pleased to have another Pirelli Star Driver test day scheduled before this all-tarmac event as his experience is much more extensive on gravel surfaces and he’s keen to have more opportunity to develop his speed on tarmac. Following Germany, Paddon heads to Rally Japan where he’ll compete in his own championship-winning Mitsubishi EVO IX. Then it’s back to New Zealand briefly before heading straight back to Europe for the final two Pirelli Star Driver and PWRC rounds of the season, Rally France and Rally Great Britain. The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus,?Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries. For further information see the team’s website, ENDS/ Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar 16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD) – 1st PSD, 26th overall, 7th Group N 6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC) – 1st PWRC, 13th overall, 1st Kiwi 28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD) – 1st PSD, 20th overall, 3rd Group N 2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand – 1st overall, 1st APRC, 1st NZRC 29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC) – 2nd PSD, 21st overall, 3rd PWRC 20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC) 10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC) 30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC) 11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC)
"I feel we have learnt a lot and really hope that we get the chance to compete here again next year, as we now have unfinished business!"
Paddon’s Finnish experience included a Pirelli Star Driver test day and two days of reconnaissance before the event started on Thursday evening with a super special stage. The main rally stages were condensed into two longer days of competition on Friday and Saturday, rather than the usual three day format. The Kiwi pair finished day one as the second quickest PWRC competitors, behind Pirelli Star Driver team-mate Ott Tanak from Estonia, and 22nd overall. The long, but successful day saw Paddon battling a bad vibration through the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X rally car which was the result of hitting three big rocks and bending the wheel rims. Despite this, Paddon’s stage times were in the top five PWRC and often the top three all day.
"Those vibrations made it quite difficult to stay on it with the car. I just wasn’t happy with my speed – I knew very well that I could drive faster than I was driving. Overnight, the team softened the car a little bit and I was much happier on Saturday.
"My aim for this event was a podium. I’m pretty chuffed that we ran second [in the PWRC standings] for so long on my first attempt at this rally, but the local guys are so quick here. My chances of staying second in Production were spoiled when I had a puncture on the penultimate loop of stages. I have to take my hat of Ott [Tänak who won the PWRC class] here; he was very quick."
Pirelli Star Driver report - Rally Finland
For a while on Saturday lunchtime, it looked as though the Pirelli Star
Driver programme could supply a one-two, with New Zealander Hayden
Paddon turning in an exceptional rookie performance to take third
position in PWRC. He moved up to second on stage 14, but a puncture
slowed him in SS15 and left him on the bottom step of the podium at the
end of the second day. Paddon admitted he had struggled to find his
rhythm on the opening day, not helped by a vibration from the wheels
and difficulties in getting the set-up of the Mitsubishi to his liking.
He was much happier on Saturday and pleased with his second podium
finish in as many PWRC outings - following his Rally New Zealand
victory.
Alex Raschi was 12th in PWRC after the first stage, but made up six
places to end the event fifth on Saturday. The San Marino driver had
underestimated the task ahead of him on this event, but an early
morning run through the rollercoaster Urria test soon got him on
message, the message being that Finland is to be survived first time
around and enjoyed on the second occasion. Raschi's car, like the rest
of the Ralliart Italia-tuned Lancers, ran without any problems during
the 19-stage Rally Finland. Kenyan driver Peter Horsey and Lebanon's
Nick Georgiou engaged in their own private battle for the final
points-paying positions. Georgiou was the quicker of the pair for the
first day, but Horsey bounced back and passed his team-mate on Saturday
afternoon. Both drivers were delighted with their first visit to the
event they'd been most looking forward to from the start of the
programme. Horsey also had the honour of leading the entire field - a
field including four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen who was
contesting his 22nd Rally Finland - away from the start. Horsey was
first on the road due to the reversed running order for Thursday
night's televised opening stage.
The drivers
Car 36: Nick Georgiou/Joseph Matar
Nick Georgiou said: "I have to say, this experience has been much
better than I expected. Competing in Rally Finland is certainly unique
from a driving perspective. The one thing which is obvious from the
start is that the pace notes have to be absolutely perfect and, from
that side, our notes have been good; they've been a little pessimistic
in places, but we weren't about to start speeding the notes up because
you can always guarantee there will be one corner waiting where you
weren't pessimistic during the recce! It has been an incredible rally,
though. When you are flying through the air, you just can't believe the
speeds you're achieving and how far you are going. The car has run well
and we haven't had any problems which is always a good start for a
great rally. It's been very useful having Robert (Reid) and the guys
from ESP here as well for more training. I have certainly learned more
here than on any other event I have competed on before. I just can't
imagine how incredible it would feel to jump into a World Rally Car and
drive even faster down these roads; that must be just amazing. I have
felt more and more comfortable with the car and the roads as the event
has progressed."
Car 37: Peter Horsey/Calvin Cooledge
Peter Horsey said: "Being the first car over the ramp at the start of
the event was an amazing feeling for me. This is such a big rally. When
we won our place in the Pirelli Star Driver scheme last year, this was
the event I was looking forward to the most, so to lead the field away
- and on the 60th anniversary of one of the world's biggest events -
was actually quite emotional. Going into the rally, things didn't start
too well: we went into a ditch on the first corner on Friday. We had a
noisy rear differential towards the end of the first day, there was a
lot of rattling coming from it near the end of the final stage - but it
didn't cost us any time. We also had the co-driver's window break on
Myhinpaa, it wouldn't go up after Calvin had finished at the control.
That was a bit of a shame as it brought a fair bit of dust into the
car, but in fairness it wasn't going to spoil my enjoyment of the
stage. I have to say, Myhinpaa has been the best road we have been on
during the event. It was just incredible, the perfect stage. There
weren't so many junctions to slow the rhythm or anything like that, it
just flowed so well - it was a real drivers' stage. It's helped having
Calvin here; he's worked on this event so many times before that he has
a really good insight into what's coming. I feel like everything has
come together for me on the rally: I've been happy with the notes,
we've committed to the notes and the speed hasn't been a problem to do
that. Rally Finland has been everything I hoped it would be; such a big
challenge but incredibly rewarding at the same time."
Car 38: Hayden Paddon/John Kennard
Hayden Paddon said: "I was a little bit demoralised towards the end of
the first day. I couldn't really find the rhythm I wanted and was
finding the car quite hard to get turned into the corners. In my car at
home, you really drive the car through the corners with the front
wheels, but on Friday I felt I had to really force the car to get it
tucked in. On top of that, we'd had some problems with broken wheels on
the first loop; those vibrations made it quite difficult to stay on it
with the car. I just wasn't happy with my speed - I knew very well that
I could drive faster than I was driving. Overnight, the team softened
the car a little bit and I was much happier on Saturday. My aim for
this event was a podium. I'm pretty chuffed that we ran second (in the
Production Car World Rally Championship standings) for so long on my
first attempt at this rally, but the local guys are so quick here. My
chances of staying second in Production were spoiled when I had a
puncture on the penultimate loop of stages. I have to take my hat of
Ott (Tänak) here, he was very quick. The suspension changes the team
did to the car overnight really gave me more confidence to push harder.
It might have been possible to fight a little bit for second place (in
PWRC), but that's not what this event was about for me: it was about
getting some very good points for the Championship and trying to
contain the time the local drivers would be able to find on these
roads. Now I've done Finland once, I want to be back and do it again
and again, I've definitely caught the bug - it's an amazing rally."
Car 39: Alex Raschi/Rudy Pollet
Alex Raschi said: "I am very happy with the way this event has gone.
This was always going to be a really tricky event, it is so far from
what I know at my home. There is nothing like this in Italy, these
roads are just beautiful. But, like I say, the feeling was hard for me
to find from the car. On the second lap of stages, I was generally
happier after I had been able to check the notes. Making the pace notes
was one of the big things for me on this event and I can't believe the
difference in speed between the recce and the rally itself. I think,
for the first time at the rally, it can be a little bit dangerous to
try and make the speed on your first run in the rally. It wasn't so
much the corners and how tight the corners were, it was the distances
between the corners - in the recce I had made them too big, so when we
are coming at full speed in the race then it's tough to make the
corners. Also, in some of the stages on Friday, there was sometimes
some big rocks, some very big rocks which we had to drive around and
try to avoid - this is not always so nice when you are enjoying driving
and the stage is flowing for you. I have to say, we had no punctures,
which is really incredible when you see the size of some of the rocks
we have been driving straight over. But, on the whole, the rally has
been positive - a fantastic place and a car which is working really
well."
Car 40: Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk
Ott Tänak said: "Coming here was really not easy. I knew that I had to
get to the finish, but staying out of trouble and trying to set
competitive times was a difficult match to make. I tried to push a
little bit early on, but I realised that my speed was maybe a little
bit too high in the first morning. I was worried that I would crash, so
I took down some of the speed, which was a little bit easier when
(Juha) Salo went out. After that, the job was just as tough; trying to
make sure I kept the car on the road and out of trouble and to keep the
concentration right up. I was trying to stay on the pace of the other
local fast guys just behind."
The other quotes
Phil Short, Pirelli Star Driver Supervisor
"To bring all five cars home in the Production Car World Rally
Championship points is a very good result from Rally Finland -
particularly when four of the five drivers were competing here for the
first time. When we saw the entry list with 49 Group N cars, we knew we
were in for a tough event, but the guys have stuck with it and come
through. Obviously, the plaudits have to go to Ott. He has driven very
well, demonstrating both the pace and consistency we were hoping for.
We had worked quite hard with Ott to get his consistency improved after
he retired from Turkey and Portugal and I think he has made very good
progress. Okay, he had been here before, but he still did a very good
job to keep such a big lead at the front of the PWRC. Hayden, too, has
been running well. He knew it would be tough to keep Jukka Ketomaki
behind him through today's stages, but it all became rather academic
when Hayden suffered a puncture on the first stage out of service. With
only one spare tyre, Hayden elected to play it safe to bring the car
home. At the end of the day, Hayden came here for experience of this
rally and he goes away with plenty of that. The same goes for Alex
Raschi. Alex picked up his pace as he was going along, but at the same
time he didn't take any risks and drove sensibly on an event which was
quite alien to him.
The other two drivers, Peter Horsey and Nick Georgiou were engaged in
their own private battle down at the back for much of the event. Those
guys have driven very responsibility. The cars have needed nothing more
than routine maintenance which is very good news on an event where
there was plenty of competition."
Robert Reid, ESP Director
"Rally Finland was an ongoing part of the training programme we are
working on with the drivers. The process is about learning and
reviewing their performance and then making changes to the strategy to
improve that performance. Here we looked at everything about a new
event, we talked about their expectations from this event on all
levels: what they expected from the car, from themselves, their
personal preparation strategies and everything like that. We will then
take the crews through a workshop tomorrow (Sunday) when we can talk
about how those goals were achieved and capture all the data from the
rally. Obviously we also look at the differences between the
expectation and realisation and the reasons for that. We will then look
at ways to put that into a useful structure to take it forward for the
rest of the season and for the guys' futures."
Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Manager
"Ott Tänak has driven as we hoped here on Rally Finland. He has been
here before, so he has some experience of the roads and he has driven
really well. He has done a good job, especially as he came here with
some pressure after making mistakes on the first two rallies. The other
drivers came looking to make some experience and they have done that
well. Hayden Paddon drove well and showed some more good speed, he was
in the top three or four stage times for the duration, which is good
for his first time here. The other three showed consistency. Alex
Raschi I think now appreciates just how tough it is to come and do an
event like this - it was something quite different for him.
"I'm very pleased with the way the cars have run on this event. We have
had no problems at all - which is great news on an event which is
traditionally very demanding on the cars, with big jumps and heavy
landings."
The next event
Just 18 days after the world's fastest gravel rally finishes, the crews
head south to the centre of Europe for ADAC Rallye Deutschland (19-22
August). Following on from the fast, sweeping Finnish roads, Germany
couldn't be more different. It's on asphalt, but it's not like any
other asphalt rally. In fact, no two days in Germany are similar as the
event moves from the tank testing tracks of the Baumholder military
ground to the quicker, but more technical roads among the vineyards,
before finally including a day in the general country roads around the
Mosel region. Based in the central German city of Trier, Rallye
Deutschland is one of the most popular rallies of the season,
attracting spectators from across central Europe. The weather is,
however, an interesting feature of the World Rally Championship's
second asphalt event of the season - with dry conditions rarely lasting
for three full days of sport.
The results
18th Ott Tänak (EST)/Kuldar Sikk (EST) 2 hr 46 min 50.5sec (1st in
PWRC)
21st Hayden Paddon (NZ)/John Kennard (NZ) 2 hr 49 min 56.5sec (3rd in
PWRC)
28th Alex Raschi (RSM)/Rudy Pollet (I) 2 hr 57 min 03.6sec (5th in
PWRC)
40th Peter Horsey (KEN)/Calvin Cooledge (GBR) 3 hr 05 min 15.6sec (9th
in PWRC)
41st Nick Georgiou (LBN)/Joseph Matar (LBN) 3 hr 05 min 58.2sec (10th
in PWRC)
Paddon prepares for WRC Finland
Top Kiwi rally pairing Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have enjoyed tremendous success in recent events in New Zealand, but they’re not underestimating the high-speed challenges of their next event, Rally Finland, which runs 29 to 31 July.
Paddon, from Geraldine, and Kennard, from Blenheim, depart New Zealand for the iconic World Rally Championship event on 21 July and, as usual, Paddon has done all he can to prepare for a rally he’s never contested before. The Finnish rally is the first of Paddon’s combined Pirelli Star Driver and Production World Rally Championship events. Last year, then aged 22, Paddon won the opportunity to be one of five Pirelli Star Drivers, a global driver development programme which sees the five young drivers contest six selected WRC events in a Ralliart Italy-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X. Four of these events – Finland, Germany, France and Great Britain – are also rounds of the Production World Rally Championship. PWRC entrants need to contest six rounds to qualify for points, so Paddon used funding from the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars International Award to add Rally New Zealand and Rally Japan to his PWRC schedule. "Rally Finland is very important in terms of the Production World Rally Championship," says Paddon. "Realistically it’s a very tough event with the roads famous for the crests and jumps. The stages are very fast, up 180 to 200 km/h and maybe more in places over blind crests, so car positioning over crests will be vital. "There are some very fast Scandinavian drivers in the PWRC including some local wildcard entries, so this is probably one of our toughest challenges of the year. "A dream result would be a PWRC podium placing, but it will be tough. We’re looking to lift our performance another gear. We’ve had great results in New Zealand since May but competing offshore is a completely different kettle of fish. We want to prove that we can perform at the top level of the sport and there is no better place than Finland to do that – the spiritual home of rallying." Paddon’s preparation for Finland has included reviewing Mark Tapper’s in-car footage from that event last year – Tapper was the first Kiwi to win a Pirelli Star Driver opportunity, tackling six WRC events in 2009, just as Paddon is doing this year. "I’ve been looking at the shape of the crests – what we’ll see during reconnaissance driving at about 60 km/h is obviously nothing like what we’ll experience during competition at well over 150 km/h and it is a matter of judging what crests you do and don’t leave the ground on." Paddon says he continues to work on his fitness. "That’s a vital part of this year’s development of me. I’m fitter than I ever have been before and I have several more goals still to achieve." Rally Finland has a different format to many three-day WRC events in recent years. Organisers have elected for one short stage on the Thursday, followed eleven stages, or 147 km, on Friday and eight stages, or 162 km on the Saturday. Paddon gets to test the Pirelli-backed Mitsubishi on Monday 26 July with the aim of developing the same complete confidence he has with his own EVO IX. "We want that same comfortable, instinctive feeling we have with our own car and more time behind the wheel is what helps us achieve that." Paddon says: "For this and the next PWRC round in Germany, my first primarily tarmac event, my goal is to demonstrate the outright speed we’ve been working on and to score as many PWRC points as we can to add to the maximum of 25 we earned for Rally New Zealand. "Watching Mark’s footage, I think I’ll enjoy Finland more than Portugal and Turkey. My gut instinct is that I’ll find those roads to my liking, so the key will be recce and learning to judge those crests. It should be great!" Hayden will have plenty of support at the Finnish event with both his family, friends and the official Rallytours group all making the trip to cheer the kiwi duo onto success. "Our team here at home is a very close knit unit, so to have Dad, my partner Katie and our other family and friends coming over to support us is great as they have all been a pivotal part that has helped me get to this point in my career." The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus, Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries. For further information see the team’s website, ENDS/ Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar 16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD) – 1st PSD, 26th overall, 7th Group N 6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC) – 1st PWRC, 13th overall, 1st Kiwi 28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD) – 1st PSD, 20th overall, 3rd Group N 2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand – 1st overall, 1st APRC 29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC) 20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC) 10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC) 30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC) 11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC)
Paddon takes storming win in Whangarei
Hayden Paddon with co-driver John Kennard dominated the International Rally of Whangarei to take their third victory in the prestigious event which ran in the Northland city over the weekend of 2 to 4 July.
Paddon, from Geraldine, and Kennard, from Blenheim, took their green Paddon Direct Mitsubishi EVO IX to an unassailable lead of three minutes, 55 seconds over fellow Kiwis Emma Gilmour and Ben Atkinson in second place. Paddon also won 13 of the event’s 16 competitive stages and set four new stage records. "The weekend has been perfect and everything has run like clockwork, thanks to the whole team," said a very happy Paddon. Being determined to fine-tune his performance on familiar roads to assist during upcoming Production World Rally Championship events, Paddon set a goal of going as hard possible from the outset. But he admitted he’d almost gone too hard on Saturday’s opening stage, the event’s longest. "We had a bit of a moment about halfway through and pretty much had all four wheels down a bank!" Having started as the third seed, the pair was quick to establish a lead throughout the first day with the end-of-day start order re-shuffling putting Paddon and Kennard first on the road on Sunday. The expected bad weather arrived in full force, making conditions very tricky for all competitors. "We knew that being first on the road today would be a slight advantage but we also knew that the afternoon’s repeated run of the four stages would be very slippery. With this in mind, we targeted the morning loop stages to achieve our main goal of the day: stage records. "With a healthy overnight lead we did not want to fall into the same trap as we did at Rally New Zealand where we cruised to the finish, especially as this weekend was all about quality seat time and developing my driving performance. So we targeted stage records, setting three new stage records during the morning’s four stages, including the one from 2004 that had eluded us in previous years. "There were the two stages early today where it was probably the hardest I’ve ever pushed in the car and it all felt comfortable and easy. So it was a really good confidence builder going in to our next event in Finland at the end of July. That’s exactly what this weekend was all about – it’s going to be a different ball-park over there and we’ve just got to carry on this confidence. "To stand on the top of the podium at the end with the New Zealand national anthem playing is a very special feeling and now the target is to carry this confidence and development that we have done with my driving this weekend onwards into the WRC with the remaining Pirelli rounds." Paddon’s next offshore event is Rally Finland at the end of July where he wants to demonstrate outright speed in the Pirelli Star Driver Group N, or production category, Mitsubishi EVO X. "The fact is international teams want outright speed on as many stages in every event as possible. Winning in Whangarei has been fantastic – one of our best – but Pirelli team-mate Ott Tänak, from Estonia, is quick and I want to demonstrate I can match and better his pace which I know I can do. The International Rally of Whangarei counts as a round of both the Asia Pacific and New Zealand rally championships. Paddon was registered to earn points in both series, after being awarded one of the APRC wildcard entries, and went on to score maximum points in both categories from the Whangarei win. "While it wasn’t an objective to score points in either championship, it is recognition for a job well done by the whole team." Paddon jumps straight into third place in the APRC points-table and also has third place in the NZRC standings, although his international commitments mean he will not contest any more events in these championships this year. Paddon and his team head back to the South Island on Monday and face two busy weeks getting their Mitsubishi rebuilt and packed for the Japanese PWRC event. "In the meantime we have a lot of preparation and training to do for Finland – we’re heading off to Europe again in just over two weeks time." The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Raiseys Nutrition, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries. For further information see the team’s website, ENDS/
Paddon gunning for Whangarei win
Geraldine’s Hayden Paddon heads to next week’s International Rally of Whangarei (2 to 4 July) looking to secure his third outright victory in the highly-regarded two-day rally. Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, from Blenheim, have just one goal – the rally win. "We want to put together a nice, clean rally, driving at 100% right from the start, and take that top step on the podium," says Paddon who won the Whangarei event in 2007 and 2009. The 23-year-old is midway through the biggest year of his rallying career to date and has several performance-related objectives that he and Kennard plan to work on during the heat of competition in Whangarei. Paddon is currently one of five Pirelli Star Drivers, a global driver development programme that sees the two-time New Zealand champion running a Ralliart Italy-prepared Mitsubishi EVO X in six rounds of this year’s World Rally Championship. With the bonus of support from Rally New Zealand’s Rising Stars driver development scheme, Paddon entered two additional WRC events which made him a full entrant in the 2010 FIA Production World Rally Championship (PWRC), a vitally-important WRC feeder series. Paddon and Kennard’s last rally was WRC Portugal at the end of May. Again the pair finished the best of the Pirelli Star Drivers, but Paddon says that event highlighted improvements needed to be made to their pace noting system. "We’ll be taking the opportunity in Whangarei to practice the changes to our pace notes. The great thing about being on an event we know well, we have the chance to make that kind of fine-tuning to our systems. "Also, being a two day event on roads we know, we don’t have as much concern about conserving the car to make it to the end as we do on tough, rocky WRC events like Turkey where just getting to the finish is a huge challenge on its own." Paddon will drive his championship-winning Team Green Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX in the Whangarei event and will be running Pirelli’s customer spec tyres for the first time, different to the Pirelli control tyre he’s used to in the WRC. "We really appreciate Pirelli’s support for this event." Paddon’s next offshore event is Rally Finland at the end of July and he’s super aware of the need to demonstrate outright speed in the Group N, or production category, Mitsubishi EVO X. "The international teams are looking for outright speed on as many stages as possible. We have secured numerous good results, rally wins and championships in New Zealand and overseas now, so that aspect of our performance is good. But Pirelli team-mate Ott Tänak, from Estonia, is quick and I want to demonstrate I can match his pace which I know I can do. "Therefore Whangarei will be really important for us to be at maximum pace right from the first stage. I don’t have to worry about championship points or anything other than getting in the right frame of mind to drive at 110% from start to finish which is the same mind-set that we want to carry into Finland." With the opportunities afforded by this year’s WRC events to demonstrate his abilities and commitment to developing a professional WRC career, Paddon has already spent time talking with team managers overseas. "We have just a handful of rallies remaining – Finland, Germany, Japan, France and Great Britain – with the chance to show what we’re capable of. This makes our last home event of the season important for John and me to work through these performance elements and be as well prepared as possible for our next PWRC event in Finland." The International Rally of Whangarei is a round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship and the New Zealand Rally Championship. Paddon is registered to earn points in both series, after being awarded one of the APRC wildcard entries. "Last year we won the Pacific Cup, which is part of the Asia Pacific series, but we didn’t get to earn APRC points. While earning APRC points isn’t our top priority, if we can do well in both the event and the APRC field, that would be awesome. The APRC is a prestigious FIA series and to win a round is a very significant achievement." Paddon’s international campaign wouldn’t be possible without the support of relevant sponsors and he’s delighted to welcome Cameron Air & Seafreight to his sponsor group. "Based in Christchurch, Cameron Air & Seafreight will play a vital role in helping us get our Team Green Mitsubishi EVO IX and equipment to Japan for one of our PWRC rounds in September. Just a couple of weeks after Whangarei, we’ll have the EVO IX rebuilt, packed and in a container ready to go to the city of Sapporo on Hokkaido Island." The South Island team heads to the northern city of Whangarei in the next few days with reconnaissance to be completed on Thursday 1 July and various promotional activities on Friday 2 July before the rally itself takes place over the weekend of 3 and 4 July. Then Paddon has about two weeks at home before leaving for Finland in the third week of July. The determined young Kiwi plans to spend much of the next few months in Europe, seeking to secure a drive for 2011 between his remaining and still vital WRC opportunities in 2010. For further information see the team’s website,
www.haydenpaddon.com
ENDS/ Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar 16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD) – 1st PSD, 26th overall, 7th Group N
6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC) – 1st PWRC, 13th overall, 1st Kiwi 28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD) – 1st PSD, 20th overall, 3rd Group N 2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand 29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC) 20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC) 10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC) 30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC) 11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC)
Paddon Best of the Pirelli Star Drivers in Portugal Rally de Portugal threw numerous challenges at top Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, but the pair came through the World Rally Championship event as the top finishers among their Pirelli Star Driver colleagues. The 23-year-old from Geraldine and his Blenheim co-driver had to retire on Friday, day one of the three day event, when the steering of their Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X broke after hitting a hole on the driving line of the abrasive Portuguese roads. Their team, Ralliart Italy, had the car quickly repaired and under SuperRally regulations, Paddon and Kennard restarted on Saturday morning to eventually finish 20th overall and third in the Group N, or production category. "Our target for the event was to finish, which we did do, but missing the last stage on Friday due to the steering damage was disappointing. Again it’s been a very up and down event for us, but we have both learnt a lot from the experience and I have felt that we have been competitive here for our first outing against other drivers who have competed here many times before. There is no substitute for experience, which is one of the main things we will gain in the Pirelli Star Driver year, but I also want results which are what I am now working really hard on" says the ever-competitive Paddon. Friday started well, as Hayden set some good times in the opening two stages, mixing it with Estonian PSD team-mate Ott Tanak and local Production World Rally Champion Armindo Araujo who were the pace setters all weekend. "We knew tyre wear would be an issue, but a lot of us underestimated just how much. After the first stage our tyres had worn considerably, so we had to change our plan of attack for the morning’s remaining two stages to conserve our tyres. By stage three our tyres were getting low on tread, even after changing them front-to-rear. Unfortunately 3km from the end the front left punctured, which at the same time appeared to damage the gearbox. We had only fifth gear, but made it through the rest of the stage and the road section back to service." There the team from Ralliart Italy worked their miracles, changing the gearbox in 40 minutes, but this was 10 minutes longer than the allowed service time and so incurred a 1m 40s. "Before the rally had started a good result was all but gone. The team did a fantastic job keeping us in the rally, but after the time loss in the stage and penalties, 2 minutes is something that we are never going to claw back from the leaders" said Hayden at the end of Day 1. A steady approach was taken for the afternoon stages, concentrating on limiting tyre wear and getting stage mileage. However the last stage of the day proved to be their undoing. "Unfortunately the same stage bit us again, as 11 km in we hit a hole which was right on the line and pretty much impossible to miss. This broke the steering and left us stranded. We were committed to the corner and if we’d tried to avoid the hole, we’d have hit a post on one side or a tree on the other side of the road. It was bad luck, but thankfully the team had the car repaired to run under SuperRally for Saturday." Paddon’s run on day two saw him climb from 53rd to 27th and learn some valuable lessons about pace notes. "The mistake that I have made with these technical roads, as we found out today, is that my normal style of writing quite complex pace notes was too full-on at times for roads where things happen very quickly. I had too much information coming at once. This is not a huge confidence booster, but nevertheless a good lesson for when we encounter similar types of roads again." Paddon rates having someone like Ott Tanak in his team highly. "It gives us a new benchmark to aim toward. Having someone of his and speed is similar to chasing Richard Mason at home for the past two seasons; it makes you pick up your game. Now it’s a matter of doing some homework and getting all the little things in place to build on this experience. We are not a long way off – about 0.5 seconds per km – it’s just a matter of getting all the small things right so that I have the confidence to push 100% on events we haven’t contested before". With Sunday’s daytime temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius, Paddon says temperatures in the cockpit hit 40 degree or more. "Wearing three layers of protective clothing, with no real airflow, it’s very hot!" commented Hayden. Another unique aspect of the Pirelli Star Driver scholarship is the involvement of Elite Sports Performance (ESP) and their professional help throughout the season in the development of each driver’s personal performance. As Portugal is one of the hottest events of the season, ESP were on hand to evaluate how each driver coped with the conditions and how to further optimize their performance. "This is done using several dexterity tests that we do throughout each of the days, plus via a device that we have strapped to our bodies which records all key data. From all this info, they will be able to advise each crew member on their performance and make suggestions on things that we are doing correctly, or incorrectly, so we can optimise our personal performance. To have this sort of help and information available to us is massive and it will help us have a much better understanding of how our bodies can cope with a hot rally." Paddon and Kennard depart Portugal on Monday afternoon, bound for New Zealand and three weeks of preparation of the Team Green Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX before the International Rally of Whangarei. "Then we have just two weeks to prepare that car and pack it in the container to be shipped to Japan where we’ll be doing our fourth PWRC event in September. Before then John and I will fly back to Europe twice for rallies in Finland and Germany. I have a lot of homework to do in the meantime, studying my driving style and where we are losing some time. We are now aiming to compete on Ott’s level and I am confident we can do that, though it will be doubly difficult in Finland, as it is a very specialist event and again one he has done before."
Paddon continues WRC program in Portugal
Top Kiwi rally pairing Hayden Paddon and John Kennard head to the next round of the World Rally Championship in Portugal for the second event in their Pirelli Star Driver programme.
Paddon, from Geraldine, and Kennard, from Blenheim, are keen to secure a finish in the Pirelli-backed Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X after having to rejoin under SupeRally regulations in their first event with the global driver development programme in Turkey in April.
"The pressure is off to a certain extent. Rally Portugal (28 to 30 May) is the last of our international events this season that doesn’t count for points in the Production World Rally Championship. This means the pressure to be thinking about championship points isn’t there, allowing us to focus on getting more quality seat-time in the EVO X," says Paddon who has a two-pronged international campaign in 2010 with his Pirelli Star Driver scholarship scheme overlaying his bid for a podium finish in the PWRC.
After taking maximum points towards their PWRC campaign in New Zealand, Hayden and John are confident of a strong showing but have shifted focus from performance to more learning and consistency on what is another whole new event for the Kiwi duo.
"Being another new event which combined with this being a non-PWRC points scoring event, means we have a slightly different frame of mind to New Zealand where the goal was to win. The next step in my career is to start winning in Europe to show that we are not just fast in the Southern Hemisphere, but before we can do that we need a little more time and experience in Europe" said Hayden who is targeting the second half of the year for results.
"The focus for Portugal is simply to finish. Turkey was hugely disappointing for the whole team so our aim is to get to the end in one piece," says Paddon. "We’d like to set some good stage times, but the priority is finishing."
Paddon’s preparation for Portugal included reviewing as much footage from previous Portuguese rallies as possible.
"The idea is to learn as much as possible about the character, the nature of the roads and, from what I can see, they are quite enjoyable roads. They look to have a hard-packed sandy surface, but there are some tricky sections. In saying that their looks to be some fast sections which will suit me perfectly but like any gravel rally using and staying on the clean line will be crucial."
Paddon says he’s as well prepared as he can be. "Fitness continues to be a major emphasis this year. We’re not expecting Portugal to be too hot – temperatures around early 20 degrees Celsius, so not bad in the car. But we have a detailed assessment with the training company, ESP, on this event. On Monday before the rally starts, we have a full day of tests and assessment, then throughout the event, our trainers are studying our performance and body functions like core temperature, heart rates and reaction times. The idea is to help us learn to monitor and manage these aspects ourselves for optimum performance."
Paddon’s trip also includes a few days in the United Kingdom before heading to Portugal. "We’re heading over a couple of days earlier than needed so we can start talking to people about plans for 2011. We’re certainly looking at our options for international competition next season and are keen to see what opportunities may be in front of us."
Paddon then flies into Portugal’s second-largest city Oporto, where the Pirelli Star Drivers join the WRC stars on Saturday 22 May to contest a short promotional super special stage, being broadcast live on television. The drivers and their cars then head 500 km south to the southern coastal city of Faro and the event’s home-base, the Algarve Stadium, before doing the all-important reconnaissance of the rally’s 18 special stages on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"John and I write all our own pace notes from scratch, so when it’s your first time on a rally like Portugal, it’s vital to do the right job during recce. Then we have Thursday’s official shakedown – the first time we get a high speed run in our EVO X’s – followed by Thursday night’s opening ceremony and first run around the super special stage inside the Algarve Stadium. Friday, Saturday and Sunday take us through 355 kilometres of special stages to the finish."
After Portugal, Paddon returns to New Zealand to prepare his Team Green EVO IX for July’s International Rally of Whangarei, an event he’s won twice before, before heading to Finland where he’ll be driving the Pirelli Star Driver EVO X in an event which also counts for PWRC points for the first time.
For further information see the team’s website, www.haydenpaddon.com
hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz)
John Kennard, Co-Driver (+64 21 267 7936, HYPERLINK "mailto:john@vicaragelane.com"HYPERLINK "mailto:john@vicaragelane.com"john@vicaragelane.com)
For high res images and on-event information:
Kate Gordon, Media Manager (+64 21 587 227, HYPERLINK "mailto:kate@relishcomm.co.nz"HYPERLINK "mailto:kate@relishcomm.co.nz"kate@relishcomm.co.nz)
To join Team Green’s media mailing list, or to sign up to receive Hayden’s personal updates from each rally, please see HYPERLINK "http://www.hayden-paddon.com/"HYPERLINK "http://www.hayden-paddon.com/"www.hayden-paddon.com.
Paddon takes maiden PWRC win in New Zealand
Geraldine rally driver Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, from Blenheim, secured a convincing win in the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) category at the weekend’s Rally of New Zealand, round 5 of the 2010 World Rally Championship. Paddon and Kennard are the first New Zealand crew to win a round of the PWRC.
Starting the event Paddon and his South Canterbury-based team, Team Green, were confident of a strong showing, targeting a maximum 25 point haul on the first PWRC event on their 2010 calendar.
“The rally could not have panned out any better,” said a delighted Paddon after he and Kennard achieved their primary goal of being the top PWRC crew home, along with some unexpected bonuses. Using their Team Green Mitsubishi EVO IX, the pair had a significant lead of 3.46 minutes after 396.5 kilometres over their closest rival fellow Kiwi Emma Gilmour to take the PWRC category win in Rally New Zealand.
“The icing on the cake was finishing as the first New Zealand crew home, a very respective 14th overall and being the round winner in the New Zealand Rally Championship standings.”
“It has been a fantastic weekend for us; we could not have asked for a better result. There is no better feeling than achieving what you set out to, despite the ever-changing circumstances of a sport like rallying,” said Paddon.
Paddon is now two events into a two-pronged international campaign for his 2010 season. The former double New Zealand rally champion won two driver development programmes in 2009. The first is the FIA Pirelli Star Driver programme which sees Paddon and Kennard contest six WRC events in a fully-funded Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X.
“Four of these events we’re doing in the Pirelli car also count for PWRC points. In order to be in contention for the actual PWRC title, we needed to add two more PWRC points-scoring events to our schedule. We selected Rally New Zealand and Rally Japan, using the funding we won from Rally New Zealand’s Rising Stars International Award towards the budget needed to contest these events in our Team Green car.”
With this year’s Rally New Zealand route heading both north and south of its Auckland base, Paddon and Kennard had a clear plan to make the most of some of Paddon’s favourite rally stages in the Kaipara and Whangarei districts.
Day one the team started 17th, right in between the two crews they regarded as their biggest competition for maximum PWRC points; with former PWRC champ Toshi Arai and Daniel Barritt in front and Richard and Sara Mason behind.
“The morning of day one, we were aiming to find a nice rhythm to set us up for a charge in the afternoon, but before we got the afternoon stages, Richard and Toshi were unfortunately both out. This left us in the position of effectively consolidating our position for the rest of the event.”
“Day two, and we were taking a very measured approach to managing our significant lead in the PWRC standings over Emma and another Kiwi Kingsley Thompson. In front, Mark was charging on as the best-placed Kiwi in a faster Group A Mitsubishi. Winning that honour wasn’t our priority – but then Mark crashed and our steady progress saw us take over the mantle as top Kiwi.
“To be honest, without anyone to compete against directly, it was very difficult to drive at a steady pace for the majority of the rally. There was not one stage that we pushed hard on. But our plan for the event was not to be the fastest on every stage, but more to be consistent and make no mistakes. This is something that I learnt from Turkey [Paddon’s first Pirelli Star Driver event in April]; it’s not the stage times that matter, it is the end result and to do it without a scratch on the car is even better.”
“It was very unfortunate what happened to Mark, but to be the first Kiwi home for the second year running really was the icing on the cake for what was a special weekend for the whole team. It is a real testament to all the work that the team has put in during the off season,” said Paddon.
With a lead of almost four minutes for the final day’s four stages, Paddon could afford to nurse an ailing clutch through one of New Zealand rallying’s toughest stages, Whaanga Coast.
“We had some heart-in-the-mouth moments with the clutch, given we were so close to the end, but we just adapted to the situation and avoided using it at all, which worked out fine.”
Paddon and Kennard’s maximum 25 point score jumps them straight into fifth on the PWRC championship leader-board. The pair has five of their six nominated rounds to contest while several other competitors in the category have already completed three events. Their maximum New Zealand Rally Championship points score also moves them into fourth in that championship despite missing the opening round in Otago.
The team’s next event is with the Pirelli Star Driver team for round six of the World Rally Championship, Rally of Portugal.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back in the Pirelli EVO X,” said Paddon. “Portugal is a bit like Turkey as it is a non-PWRC event for us, which means we can simply concentrate on getting more time in the car and getting to the finish in the best possible shape.”
For further information see the team’s website, www.haydenpaddon.com
ENDS/
Paddon clinches PWRC win in New Zealand
Mitsubishi driver Hayden Paddon overcame a final-day clutch problem to take his maiden Production Car World Rally Championship victory on Rally New Zealand.
Paddon has dominated the P-WRC class for the duration of the Auckland-based event, winning from Emma Gilmour by more than three minutes.
Gilmour’s Subaru was in the top two stage times through today’s action, centred on Raglan, south-west of Auckland, and fastest outright on the concluding test - a second run through Whaanga Coast.
Kingsley Thompson retired from the event on the final stage, but thanks to the Superally rules the Mitsubishi man will be classified third, ensuring a podium lock-out for the Kiwis.
But top New Zealander at home was undoubtedly Paddon. “It’s been a great event,” he said. “On the first morning, we were just playing ourselves in. The plan was to attack in the afternoon stages on Friday. But with the problems Richard [Mason] and Toshi [Arai] had, we didn’t really have to. For the last two and a half days, we’ve been able to drive without taking any major risks.”
Paddon added that the clutch problem which hit his Lancer Evo IX today had been an irritation more than a major issue. “It started to come last night,” said the 23-year-old. “The clutch wasn’t slipping or anything like that, we just started to lose the pedal. In the last couple of stages, I didn’t use the clutch at all. You can do that with this gearbox, but it took some time to get used to doing it.”
Paddon added that, after the drama which had unfolded at the front of the main field in Whaanga Coast, he was pleased he hadn’t had to push in the day’s long stage. “It’s so tricky in there,” he said. “It’s a great road, but it can be really tough.”
Second-placed Gilmour was pleased with her event, adding: “I’m the top female finisher, which is great. The car seemed a bit down on power. The boys made some changes to the car last night. It wasn’t so good this morning, but it felt better in the afternoon when there was a bit more grip around. This is a great result for the Kiwis.”
Behind the all-NZ top three, Subaru driver Arai made a great comeback to fourth place. “This is not such a bad result after our retirement on Friday,” said his co-driver Daniel Barritt. “We’ve pushed quite hard today and we’ve gone really well in the twisty sections. It’s just a shame we had those problems on the first day, otherwise it could have been a really good event. Hayden’s had it to himself a little bit this time.”
Arai passed Gianluca Linari, also in an Impreza, on the penultimate stage - both drivers also moving up one place further when Chaodong Liu stopped late in the day.
Rally results links on wrc.com:
Paddon aims for top step of PWRC podium in Rally NZ Hayden Paddon is aiming for the top step of the Production World Rally Championship podium when Rally New Zealand wraps up on Sunday 9 May. The New Zealand round of the World Rally Championship, running 6 to 9 May, is Paddon’s first PWRC event of 2010, the year in which the just-turned 23-year-old aims to make his mark internationally and take another step towards a professional WRC career and his ultimate goal of winning a world title. "It’s important for us to get the maximum PWRC points during Rally New Zealand," says the Geraldine-based double New Zealand rally champion who returned from Rally Turkey just a few days ago after contesting his first event as a Pirelli Star Driver. "Being our home event, it’s our best chance to do really well. We’re aiming for an error-free rally. On a three-day event like this, it’s about minimising mistakes and being consistent to help put together a good result. A lot of the roads this year are new which is good for us, especially as some of the roads are faster." Paddon has contested Rally New Zealand only twice before, in 2007 and in 2008 when he earned the honour of being the first New Zealander home in 13th place overall. Those two years of experience on a three-day WRC event on New Zealand roads stand Paddon in good stead for a strong result in this year’s PWRC class, which features talented drivers such as former PWRC champion Toshi Arai from Japan and the top New Zealand Rally Championship field. "The car’s good," says Paddon of the championship-winning Team Green Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX that his team has put hundreds of hours into rebuilding for this event. "We’ve had a couple of good test sessions and the car’s faster than last year but the proof is always once we get into the stages and can compare ourselves against the others. We have to look at the event as a whole, not just 1 or 2 stages, as it is a long rally and the points are only awarded at the finish line." One of the key considerations for the Team Green, as it is for other competitors, is the limited opportunity for servicing the car during each day’s action as the daily format from previous events has been changed. "The lunchtime remote services in Whangarei, Hampton Down and Raglan on each of the three days mean that we can use only parts that we carry in the car during the morning’s stages. Not only are you trying to drive quickly, but you must look after the car as much as you can to get back to the service park at the end of each day." Paddon departs the team’s Geraldine workshop late this week, bound for Auckland where they’ll set up at the main service park on Queens Wharf in downtown Auckland on Saturday 1 May. Paddon has been invited to participate in a number of pre-event promotional activities with other competitors in the build-up to the rally which starts officially on Thursday 6 May. "It is going to be a busy week which I am really looking forward to and it will be great to see our Team Green supporters out there! We have had a lot of support from our team, partners and supporters so I hope to give them all something to cheer about, especially considering we only have a couple of chances to compete on home turf this year." Paddon extends his thanks to sponsors EDL Fasteners, Castrol, Pirelli, RallyTours, Endless Brakes, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, Steelplus, Resene, FMG, Reaction Racing, Pope Print and Bluebridge Ferries.
The team’s website,
, has full details of the team’s 2010 programme and offers the opportunity to sign up for Hayden’s regular, informative newsletters.
for photos
Paddon successfully finishes WRC Turkey, first Pirelli Star Driver event
Young Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon has successfully completed his first World Rally Championship event as a Pirelli Star Driver, the Rally of Turkey.
Despite the severe disappointment of being knocked out of the first day’s running with an unexpected dirt chicane just eight kilometres into the very first stage, Paddon bounced back with his trademark determination to be the first of this year’s five Pirelli Star Drivers to the finish line in 26th position.
"When we recced the first stage on Wednesday there was no dirt chicane – nothing marked there, just a long straight piece of road which we had noted," explained a still-puzzled Paddon after the rally. "Preceding the straight was a flat right-hand corner over a crest. We went over that crest flat-out in fifth gear, at around 150 km/h. As soon as we did, I saw a large dirt wall in front of us, a man-made chicane that had been put in place after recce [reconnaissance] which was noted in the road book, just in a different position. There was no way I could pull the car up, so we slammed into it sideways, beaching the car on the dirt wall. I tried everything to dig the car out – there was only light panel damage otherwise – but to no avail."
Paddon, from Geraldine, and co-driver John Kennard, from Blenheim, had to watch the rest of the field pass them by until the Ralliart Italy-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X could be driven back to the service park for repairs.
"Speaking to other drivers, many didn’t have that chicane noted either. We were the unlucky first to get completely caught out by it. At the end of the day we made a mistake in recce of missing the chicane in the road book which we have already learnt from and put processes in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Although this silly accident is frustrating, it is all learning and sometimes you have to learn the hard way!"
Under SupeRally regulations, Paddon was able to restart on Saturday. "Under those rules, our times for day one were calculated from the fastest time in our class, plus five minutes’ penalty per stage missed. From our starting position of 17th, we dropped to 36th with these 45 minutes of penalties."
The day two stages took Paddon and fellow competitors north from the rally’s base in Pendik, near Istanbul, to the coast of the Black Sea.
"The team did a great job repairing the small amount of damage to the car, and we were able to drive at a good pace from the first stage this morning. That first stage, which was repeated again in the afternoon, comprised 13 km of tarmac, which, when tackled with gravel tyres and gravel suspension set-up, was as slippery as ice."
Paddon set the fastest Group N, or production car class, times on three stages and broke into the top ten with his time on stage 13 against the best WRC cars and drivers. Dust hampered Paddon on two morning stages, and a bent front wheel on the penultimate stage meant he had to drive slowly out of the stage before changing the wheel and finishing the day with a real flier through the rough Riva stage.
"Saturday’s last stage, the longest of the rally at 27 km, was the first time that I started to feel at one with the car, especially the second half where I felt I could drive with good confidence without taking risks. It’s all a matter of time in the seat and I certainly felt much better after a good day, setting some good stage times."
Overnight rain meant the inland stages of day three were muddy with very inconsistent grip, so much so that the first two stages were cancelled. Paddon completed the day’s third stage with the 14th quickest time, only to pass hard-charging Pirelli team-mate Ott Tanak and his stranded car.
"After passing Ott’s big crash, we decided to ease off a little and concentrate on getting the car to the end of what was a very tough event for the whole team.
"Driving the afternoon's stages – the first two being the stages cancelled in the morning – we found a very slippery downhill section comparable to the slippery mud that we encountered in Malaysia. All in all, not easy, but the last stage was one of the best stages that I’ve ever driven! Very fast and flowing with big jumps, and now I know, the EVO X flies brilliantly! Leaving the ground and looking at the sky with that brief moment of silence until everything lands, is just the best feeling ever..."
Paddon’s finishing position included being seventh among the other Group N, or production car, competitors, not that this rally counted for points in the global production car series (PWRC) that Paddon also tackles this season.
"Overall it’s been great to get more time in the car and my confidence with it has been growing every stage in Turkey. Once I get a little more confident in driving it consistently, I will be able to focus more on fine tuning the set-up of the car with the team, which I hope I can do during the next Pirelli Star Driver event, in Portugal.
"A huge thanks to the whole team: FIA, Pirelli, Mike, Loris, Carlo, Walter and the rest of Ralliart Italy crew, who did a fantastic job all weekend keeping the cars going and repairing the damage from the rough conditions."
Paddon expects to be back in New Zealand on 21 April, subject to the volcanic ash issues affecting flights from Europe, and the day after he turns 23. Paddon and his Paddon RallySport team have just one week to complete their preparation of their championship-winning Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX before leaving Geraldine bound for Auckland and their next event, Rally New Zealand, which starts on 6 May.
"I can’t wait for Rally New Zealand where we’ll start our Production World Rally Championship campaign. Then just two weeks later John and I will be flying back out to join the Pirelli Star Driver and Ralliart Italy teams again in Portugal."
Paddon extends his thanks to sponsors EDL Fasteners, Castrol, Pirelli, RallyTours, Endless Brakes, Paddon, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Contiki Tours, All About Signs, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Reaction Racing, Pope Print and Bluebridge Ferries.
New 2010 Team Green Clothing We are pleased to reveal our new 2010 Team Green clothing which is available for purchase. Clothing items include high quality Jackets, Dress Shirts, Polo Shirts and T-shirts. Join Hayden and the team by supporting their rally campaign in New Zealand and World wide in Team Green Colours. Please see below links to Trademe for purchase, or alternatively join Team Green Supporters Club (click here) for special Team Green Supporter prices (please email Hayden after joining to request special Team Green prices). All pre-orders have to be received no later than 21st April so that delivery can be done before WRC Rally of New Zealand. All Team Green clothing will be on sale throughout the year. Team Green Rally Jackets http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=282790185 Team Green Rally Dress Shirts http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=282790407 Team Green Rally Polo Shirts 
2010 PIRELLI STAR DRIVER RALLY REPORT
The second year of the Pirelli Star Driver programme got underway on this week’s Rally of Turkey, with all of the drivers turning in encouraging times and New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon finishing highest of the five crews in the overall classification. Estonian driver Ott Tänak had set the pace for the first two days of the event, before crashing heavily on the final morning after running in the top 10 overall for the duration of the rally.
Pirelli Star Driver report
Hayden Paddon might have been the highest finisher on the event, but going off the road on the opening stage of the rally forced him to use SupeRally to return on Saturday morning. Three other drivers retired from Friday: Alex Raschi, Nick Georgiou and Peter Horsey. Horsey’s departure was the only terminal one after his Mitsubishi was destroyed in a second-stage fire.
The sole survivor of what had been an exceptionally tough first loop of stages close to the rally’s Istanbul base was Tänak. The protégé of five-time world rally winner Markko Martin admitted he had taken a measured approach to the first day, and continued that policy into Saturday, only to be caught out by a fast right-hander over a crest on SS20. He rolled his Lancer and was unable to continue.
Once he was back on the stages, Paddon’s focus for Saturday was on bedding himself in to the new car and making up for the seat time he’d missed on the previous day. By the day’s third stage, Paddon was beating the times of Tänak, despite a damaged wheel rim forcing a brake calliper to catch on the disc. By the end of the event, Paddon had overcome his Friday disappointment and was delighted with the feeling and speed he was enjoying from the Mitsubishi.
Raschi finished the event close to Paddon. The San Marino driver had made it one stage further into the rally before he went off the road on SS2. He returned, only to suffer damaged suspension on the Riva test late on Saturday morning. The car was fixed and he made it to the end of the event without any more problems. Lebanese driver Nick Georgiou was the most unfortunate of the Pirelli Star Drivers, however, after a bearing failure ruled him out of day one before he even arrived at the start of the opening stage. Georgiou returned to the service park not having tackled a single kilometre competitively. His rally started the next morning, when he elected to take a sensible approach to learn the car rather than trying to set fastest stage times in the Group N category. By the final day, Georgiou was pleased with his progress, calling the Ballica test the best he’d ever driven.
Horsey’s car didn’t make it past the second stage. He rolled the car in a slow right-hander. The accident itself didn’t cost too much time, but the fire which started soon after – and was suspected to have been started by an oil leak – took hold and burned the car out, despite the best efforts of Horsey and co-driver Moses Matovu.
The drivers
Car 36: Nick Georgiou/Joseph Matar
Nick Georgiou said: “The event didn’t get off to the best of starts for us. We were on the road section to the first stage when I felt the power steering tighten up, then I saw the battery light coming on and finally the engine temperature started to rise. We switched the engine off and our fears were confirmed when we saw a bearing had broken. Of course, I was disappointed, but at the same time it wasn’t as bad as having it happen in the middle of the stage – the adrenalin wasn’t flowing, so the emotion wasn’t quite the same. This is rallying, it can happen. It was an easy fix for the team and we were able to get out and start our rally on Saturday morning. When we did get started, it really wasn’t the easiest of conditions – we were running the gravel tyre on wet asphalt stages. We stepped the pace up a bit in the afternoon on Saturday and then again on Sunday. The Ballica stage was just something else, it was incredible. People tell me it’s a taste of Finland – if that’s the case, I can’t wait to get there. It was just awesome with the jumps. I loved it. I’m pretty happy leaving this event, okay, it wasn’t the best start, but I know where I am with the car now. The others have taken a little time out of me, but I know where that time is and I know what I’ve got to do.”
Car 37: Peter Horsey/Moses Matovu
Peter Horsey said: “What a start to a rally! I can still hardly take in what has happened. Everything was good on the first stage, but then not far into the second stage we went into a right-hander over a brow. The back of the car stepped out, I was just slightly too fast in. The rear got caught in some ruts from the cars which had passed through earlier and it rolled over. It wasn’t a bad roll or anything, it was first gear – a real slow one. Back on our wheels, we got going and had gone about a kilometre or something like that down the road when I saw smoke coming through the bonnet vents. We stopped and used our extinguishers to put the fire out. It looked like it had gone, but because it was an oil fire, it just kept coming back. One of the cars stopped and we took his extinguisher, but we couldn’t stop it. The fire truck came after 15 minutes, but it was an inferno by then. I’m absolutely gutted to end the first event like this. Moses and I have had much bigger crashes than this one, with nothing like the consequences. You feel so completely helpless when you are standing watching the car burning. It’s tough because we wanted time in the car and we wanted a result from the first event – we didn’t just want the result for us, but for the FIA, Pirelli and the continent of Africa that we’re here representing.”
Car 38: Hayden Paddon/John Kennard
Hayden Paddon said: “Like some of our team-mates, we had a tough start to the event. We came over a crest in the first stage, flat out and found the road blocked by a chicane. The chicane had been in the road book, but we hadn’t noticed it. We thought the chicane in the road book was actually 50 metres further down the road than where it was. Okay, we still wouldn’t have had it noted, but we would have had a much better chance of stopping the car before we hit it. As it was, the car rode up onto the dirt and got beached. It wouldn’t move. It’s very frustrating, but John and I have put another process in place to deal with that from the next rally on. From then on, the rally was about me feeling comfortable with the car – making it like a glove. I really got that feeling on the final stage of Saturday and it was great. We made some small adjustments to the dampers during the event, the car was a little bit tail-happy on the first run through some of the stages. I was a bit disappointed the stages were cancelled on Sunday morning, having missed Friday I wanted to be doing as much driving as possible. I feel really comfortable with the car now. It’s a real shame what happened to Ott; after the morning we had on Friday, his times were a real lift for the whole team. But, this is rallying and this kind of thing can happen.”
Car 39: Alex Raschi/Rudy Pollet
Alex Raschi said: “I had a problem on the second stage. I tried to turn in a right-hand corner, but there was some gravel on the inside of the bend. This sent the car sliding and the back hit a bank and rode up it. The car became stuck, we just couldn’t move it. I tried to reverse the car, but this broke the reverse gear in the transmission. There were no spectators around and with just Rudy and myself it was too tough to try and get it moved. It was very frustrating, when we did get the car out, after the stage had run, there was no damage to it at all and we could drive it back to service. The team fixed the gearbox overnight and we started again on Saturday. That day was going better until we found the really rough stage at the end of the morning. That road was crazy, it was just bang, bang, bang all of the time. The suspension at the left-rear of the car broke. Again, the team did a great job to get the car all sorted out and we enjoyed the afternoon. When we got to the rough stage again [Riva, SS17] I was driving more slowly, worried about how it might hurt the car again. I am happy, though. On Saturday and Sunday I have got a lot of experience of the car and of rallying in some new conditions – and that’s why I’m here. The car has been beautiful and the tyres have been perfect for me. We were quite close with Hayden in the final day and maybe we could have had a fight, but we knew we had to take the car to the finish, that was really important for the team.”
Car 40: Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk
Ott Tänak said: “The first day was good, no problems. I wasn’t pushing too hard, maybe 70 or 80 per cent. I didn’t want to take any big risks with this being my first time with the team and my first time competing in the car. I enjoyed the roads, they were nice and fast – but the World Rally Cars were pulling out so many big rocks, it was quite difficult to stay on the line for a lot of the time. It was the same on Saturday, but there were some bigger rocks. We had a problem with a damper on one stage, but the team got all of that sorted. It should have been a straightforward day for me on Sunday: we had a good lead and no problems at all with the car. My plan was just to drive the car and not take any risks. Unfortunately, we went off the road on a fast right-hand corner over a crest. It was quite a big accident and a very big disappointment for me. I am disappointed not just for me and Kuldar, but also for the whole team and for Pirelli and the FIA. We were looking to have a very good result here.”
The other quotes
Phil Short, Pirelli Star Driver Supervisor:
“This rally hasn’t been particularly kind to us; it’s been a very tough event. One of the positives to come from this is the reliability shown from the Mitsubishi Lancers. We only had one technical problem which was not caused by the drivers hitting something; the power steering problem for Nick’s car on Friday. This shows the work the team has done over the winter is really paying off. The crews like the feeling of the car, the set-up is good. On the really rough sections on Saturday, the drivers said how well it worked. I think we’ve been quite unlucky on this event. Another positive for us was the pace which Ott showed. He drove very well, looked after the car and seemed to be heading for a great result until he went off the road. We’ll be in the drivers’ ears again before Portugal. Right from the first words we said at pre-season training in Edinburgh, the message has been to finish rallies and get experience. Clearly when you are using SupeRally you’re not driving the car and you’re not getting experience. There has been no pressure from Pirelli to drive for a result and we will reiterate that message ahead of the next rally.”
Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Manager:
“It’s been a mixed rally. Friday morning was very difficult, but after that we have seen some good speed from all of the drivers. [Ott] Tänak was going really well and his speed was fantastic, he was the best here for sure, but we have to find out about his crash. We need to talk about this because there was no need for him to be taking the risk – he didn’t have any pressure from behind and no chance to win the place ahead. His result could have been incredible for the first round of the Pirelli Star Driver. For sure, the reliability of the car has improved a lot since last year. Now, the drivers need to realise that they have to finish the event, it’s so important to get there. Now we have to look at the next event and Ralliart Italia has a lot of work before that rally. For sure, the car of Peter Horsey is gone, it’s finished – the fire was so bad, only the roll cage is still there. And we have to look at Tänak’s car. We didn’t plan to have two cars completely destroyed like this. The team has one spare car and we need to work out what we can do, but certainly it’s not going to be straightforward for the next rally.”
The next event
After an opening round with all the competitive action running in Asia, the Pirelli Star Drivers will return to the other side of the Bosphorus and head out to the far western side of Europe for their second event: the Vodafone Rally de Portugal (27-30 May). As usual, the popular gravel event is based in the Algarve Stadium (where two super special stages will run) and includes 18 stages in total. On the Sunday (23 May) prior to the event, all five Pirelli Star Drivers will take part in a super special stage in Porto, as part of a road-show to publicise the event in the north of the country.
The results
26th Hayden Paddon (NZ)/John Kennard (NZ) 4 hr 06min 27.1s (7th in Group N4)*
27th Alex Raschi (RSM)/Rudy Pollet (I) 4hr 07min 23.4s (8th in Group N4)*
29th Nick Georgiou (LBN)/Joseph Matar (LBN) 4h17m00.6s (10th in Group N4)*
Ott Tänak (EST)/Kuldar Sikk (EST) Accident SS20, retired
Peter Horsey (KEN)/Moses Matovu (UGA) Accident/fire SS2, retired
* Continued under SupeRally regulations
Paddon focused for first Pirelli Star Driver event, WRC Turkey
Top New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon heads back to Europe this week for his debut event as a Pirelli Star Driver in Rally of Turkey, the third round of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship.
"It has felt like a long time coming but it is finally time to go rallying!" commented Hayden
Paddon, and co-driver John Kennard, are entirely focused on doing a good job in their first Pirelli Star Driver event, which is also Paddon’s first WRC event in the Northern Hemisphere.
"I’ve been through the excitement phase, when we won this opportunity at Rally Australia last September," says the Geraldine-based 22-year-old. "Now we’ve got a job to do. We have goals for each event and, for Turkey, it’s to get to know the car and the team. We aim to drive at a good pace, without taking unnecessary risks, to make it to the finish."
Paddon and the four other Pirelli Star drivers start Rally of Turkey among the production, or Group N, competitors in their identical Ralliart Italy-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X for the 358 km of competitive stages.
"We have only done 30km of testing in our Pirelli Evo X’s in what is essentially a new car and new team for us all so as well as being competitive, this event is also about getting comfortable in our environment for the year ahead."
With the event based in Istanbul, many of the roads for this year’s WRC event in Turkey have also been used for the Intercontinental Rally Championship (IRC) fairly recently, says Paddon.
"I have been able to find footage of competitors in action on these roads, which are described as generally fast, wide, smooth-surfaced gravel. I’ve been studying the character of the roads for myself, and I’ve also been looking at the footage of my own testing in the EVO X in Italy in March, assessing my driving style and considering options for improvement."
There’s considerable history and places of note to delight most keen travellers, but Paddon says he’s so wrapped up in the actual rally, he almost forgets he’s in a foreign country.
Paddon and Kennard, from Blenheim, arrive in Istanbul on Saturday 10 April and have Sunday to acclimatise, before spending Monday preparing for reconnaissance on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"On Wednesday evening we have a launch for the Pirelli Star Drivers at the Pendik service park. After Thursday’s shakedown, we have the ceremonial start across the Bosphorus strait, from where the service park is located. The Bosphorus runs between the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara that becomes the Mediterranean, so all the teams and cars are being loaded on a ferry for a ‘cruise’ before the ceremonial start that evening.
"Friday to Sunday, it’s the rally itself, when we’ll be focused on our job of doing as well as we can. It’s very exciting to have the opportunities afforded by the Pirelli Star Driver competition, and now it’s about doing the job. There’s a lot of hard work to get to the next level and this is our chance to prove we can do it, so we’re pretty serious about the actual rally and the fact that it’s in another country is just another challenge of the sport."
Paddon explains his international campaign for 2010.
"Our Pirelli Star Driver scholarship win means we contest six WRC events, which are Turkey, Portugal in May, Finland in July, Germany in August, France in September and Great Britain in November.
"Four of these events are also Production World Rally Championship events, we have used the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars International Award scholarship funding towards entering two more PWRC events – Rally New Zealand in May and Japan in September – which ensures we meet the FIA requirements to complete six PWRC events to earn points for this world championship. This campaign gives us the best possible chance to demonstrate our abilities on the world stage and get the results we need to get to the next level in world rallying."
Paddon and Kennard will be back in New Zealand on 21 April and will turn their attention to their PWRC campaign which starts with Rally New Zealand from 6 to 9 May.
Paddon extends his thanks to sponsors EDL Fasteners, Castrol, Pirelli, RallyTours, Endless Brakes, Paddon, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Contiki Tours, All About Signs, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Steelplus, Reaction Racing, Pope Print and Bluebridge Ferries.
Paddon’s comprehensive website,
, has full details of the team’s 2010 programme and offers opportunities to sign up for regular informative, chatty newsletters.
ENDS/
Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar
16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD)
6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC)
28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD)
2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand
29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC)
20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC)
10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC)
30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC)
11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC)
For more information:
Hayden Paddon, Driver (+64 27 318 1748,
)
John Kennard, Co-Driver (+64 21 267 7936,
)
For high res images and on-event information:
Kate Gordon, Media Manager (+64 21 587 227,
)
To join Team Green’s media mailing list, or to sign up to receive Hayden’s personal updates from each rally, please see
Team Green reveal 2010 livery
South Canterbury Rally Team, Team Green and Driver Hayden Paddon have today revealed their new livery for their Mitsubishi Evo 9 that they will use for selected rounds in both the New Zealand and World Rally Championship. The team will use the same left-hand drive Evo 9 that has lead them to two national titles which after a extensive off season rebuild and testing program is faster than ever. "We have spent a lot of time focusing on the areas that we have been weak in during previous years and really worked on those areas. We have made substantial steps forward in these areas especially with damper and diff set-up" explained Hayden after testing in South Canterbury. The new livery is based around the same ‘green’ theme that the team have run for the past 17 years, but with the introduction of new sponsors Pirelli, Radio Hauraki, Contiki Tours and All About Signs has now incorporated a striking yellow, black and white scheme. The existing green and silver is also present along with long term partners EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol and Paddon. "The car is looking great thanks to the work that All About Signs has done and really portrays our partners in a clean, simple manner while also being striking. Now our job is to make sure we have our refreshed looking car sitting on the top of the podium" commented Hayden. For more photos and video visit their website,
www.haydenpaddon.com. For further information or comments contact Hayden, +64 27 318 1748
Paddon pumped by European training for Pirelli Star Driver programme
Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon and his co-driver John Kennard have returned to New Zealand full of enthusiasm for the exciting season of international rallying in front of them.
The pair has had ten days in Scotland and Italy where they were preparing for their first event as a Pirelli Star Driver in the FIA World Rally Championship. In Edinburgh, Paddon and Kennard joined the other four Pirelli Star Drivers and their co-drivers from around the world to complete a customised training programme at Edinburgh University.
“It was great to meet our new team-mates,” says Paddon, who comes from Geraldine. “There already seems to be a good vibe in the team.”
The first team-building activity began as soon as they arrived in Edinburgh on Sunday 14 March. The teams were given a variety of materials and had to construct a reduced-scale super special stage, including a bridge over a one-metre gap between two tables – before racing each other with radio-controlled cars.
The course providers, Elite Sports Performance which was co-founded by Robert Reid, co-driver to the late Richard Burns, ran sessions to the timetable of a WRC event, with Sunday evening simulating the ceremonial start or super special stage of a rally.
Two long days followed as the crews worked on many aspects of their preparation for the six WRC rounds they are to contest as a Pirelli Star Driver. These included sponsorship and the business of rallying; pace notes; performance profiling; physiology and conditioning; fitness and injury prevention; career management; aerobic training and flexibility; media and presentation skills; nutrition; safety and incident response; heat chamber work; hydration strategy; goal-setting and anti-doping regulations in motorsport.
“Both John and I went well in our fitness tests, which gives us a good base to work from for the rest of the year. Our instructors highlighted our strengths and weaknesses, and provided guidance on how we can maximise our body’s performance,” says the 22-year-old double New Zealand Rally Champion.
Hayden attended a similar training course in 2006 with the Elite Motorsport Academy, something which he admits gave him a head start with the training in Scotland.
“Some aspects of the course were very similar but the great thing with the training that we have done here is that it was solely focused on Rallying and the impact that a long week and event has on our body’s and mind. The Elite Motorsport Academy is unique to New Zealand and we are very lucky that the NZ Motorsport Trust make available these sort of resources for young New Zealand drivers, and the course that we have done this week with ESP is a continuation on from this which will immensely help my future.”
“One of the really key things for me was the work we did in the heat chamber, which ideally replicated the hot conditions we can get in the car. It was interesting to see the way those conditions impacted on my body and what I could do to control that.”
ESP will continue to evaluate the drivers performance, training and fitness levels throughout the year by attending three of the events where they will also perform on-event research of each of the drivers.
Being a rally driver through and through, Paddon was keen to get to Ralliart Italy’s test location, near Pisa in Tuscany, to see the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X he’d be driving this year.
“We spent Thursday getting our hands dirty – changing wheels, altering the set-up and generally familiarising ourselves with the EVO X.
“Despite my Italian being somewhat scratchy, both John and I have been able to communicate well with the team and build strong relationships – necessary within any successful rally team.
“On Friday and Saturday, we each had 30km of testing, first on gravel then on tarmac, aiming to get familiar and comfortable with the car. John and I were fortunate to have had a brief drive in Sloan Cox’s EVO X before leaving for Europe. This helped us get familiar with the set-up quickly and suggest some changes to the dampers to get the car handling the way I like it. The end result was a very nice car to drive, with a great power band and, despite being heavier, it is a much more balanced car, meaning the handling characteristics are a lot better than our EVO IX.
“The second day, on tarmac, was more about gaining further miles in the car, especially considering my lack of knowledge about setting up a car for tarmac. We still have six months before our first tarmac rally in Germany and fortunately we will have a test session beforehand, so we can make final adjustments to the car for tarmac there.
“The Ralliart engineers were really helpful, the car was fast and responsive, and I felt really comfortable and confident.”
Paddon is back in New Zealand briefly, where he’s working on his Team Green EVO IX that he’ll be using to content Rally New Zealand in May. Kennard returned straight into the demands of Blenheim’s grape harvest, the bulk of which will be completed by the time the pair need to get on their next flight to Istanbul and Rally Turkey which takes place from 16 to 19 April.
Paddon extends his thanks to sponsors EDL Fasteners, Castrol, Pirelli, RallyTours, Endless Brakes, Paddon, Radio Sport, Radio Hauraki, Contiki Tours, All About Signs, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Reaction Racing, Pope Print and Bluebridge Ferries.
Hi all,
We are now back in Pisa after 3 successful days in Tuscany, Italy, testing and training with the Pirelli Star Driver Team. This week has been fantastic, and not only have we learnt a lot from the training programme with ESP at Edinburgh University and Ralliart Italy here with the cars, we have also had a ball meeting our new team and team-mates.
Our first day here in Italy was based around learning the in’s and out’s of our new Evo 10’s, while also meeting the team from Ralliart Italy, who will be running all 5 cars throughout the year. Despite my Italian being somewhat scratchy, both John and I have been able to communicate well with the team and build strong relationships, which are nessecary within any successful rally team.
Friday and Saturday were each made up of 30km of testing, first on gravel then on tarmac. The main objective was to get familiar and comfortable with our new cars, but after our brief drive in an Evo 10 prior to leaving for Europe, we were quickly able to make some changes to the dampers to get the car handling the way I like it to. The end result was a very nice car to drive, with a great power band and, despite being heavier, it is a much more balanced car, meaning the handling characteristics are a lot better than our Evo9.
The second day, on tarmac, was more about gaining further miles in the car, especially considering my lack of knowledge about setting up a car for tarmac. We still have 6 months before our first tarmac rally, at which we will have a test session beforehand, so we can make final adjustments to the car for tarmac there. However, today was great fun, especially as the road surface was very smooth (almost like a race track).
Please see the link below for a video that I have quickly put together of our time here in Italy, including in-car footage of our first drive of the car both on gravel and tarmac.
VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW5-8JmTLq0
Finally, John and I would like to sincerely thank everyone involved at ESP training, Pirelli, FIA and Ralliart Italy for the past week and the year that follows. It has truly been a great week that has for sure set the tone for what I hope will be a highly successful year for both the team and ourselves.
Also below is a link to a brief report that has been written of our training programme at Edinburgh and more details of exactly what the course entailed. I have also included a link of photos from our trip, including our new Pirelli overalls.
PHOTOS -http://www.haydenpaddon.com/wp-content/gallery/2010-pirelli-star-driver
OVERVIEW – http://haydenpaddon.com/news?news=12
John and I will arrive home Tuesday night. We then have a little over 2 weeks to continue the testing programme with our car, before it has to be stripped and final preparations made for Rally New Zealand. As we only have 2 weeks once we return from Rally Turkey until we have to leave for Rally Zealand we need to ensure we get as much work done as early as possible, before we leave for Turkey.
Thanks everyone, I will keep you all up to date and a reminder to keep an eye out, as we will be revealing our new Team Green Evo 9 livery mid to late this week.
Until then,
Hayden
| About Hayden: Hayden Paddon is a 22-year-old, New Zealand-based rally driver selected as a Pirelli Star Driver for the 2010 season. He will contest several WRC rallies in the P-WRC this year as part of his PSD prize drive. |
Pirelli Star Driver training overview
The five drivers and co-drivers forming the 2010 Pirelli Star Driver programme met for the first time in Scotland earlier this week. After introductions on Sunday afternoon (14 March), the 10 men began a training and education course in Edinburgh before leaving for Pisa, Italy on Wednesday afternoon (17 March), where they would test the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X they will drive on six rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship.
The five crews involved in this year’s scheme are: Nick Georgiou and Joseph Matar from the FIA Middle East Rally Championship; Peter Horsey and Moses Matovu from the FIA African Rally Championship; Hayden Paddon and John Kennard from the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship; Alex Raschi and Rudy Pollet and Ott Tänak and Kuldar Sikk – all from the FIA European Rally Championship.
The training
The crews were thrown straight into the training process for this year’s Pirelli Star Driver scheme, with the first team-building activity beginning as soon as they arrived in Edinburgh. The teams were given a variety of materials and had to construct a reduced scale super special stage – including a bridge over a one-meter gap between two tables – before racing each other with radio-controlled cars. Once again, ESP ran the training session to the timetable of a round of the FIA World Rally Championship, with Sunday evening simulating the ceremonial start or super special stage of an event. Two long days followed, before a further early start and finish just after lunch on Wednesday. In that time, the crews were working on a wide variety of aspects of preparation for the WRC, including: sponsorship and the business of rallying; pace notes; performance profiling; physiology and conditioning; fitness and injury prevention; career management; aerobic training and flexibility; media and presentation skills; nutrition; safety and incident response; heat chamber work; hydration strategy; goal-setting and anti-doping regulations in motorsport. As well as a theoretical approach, ESP also took a practical look at all of the above. For example, to underline the importance of nutrition, the crews were given £15 and told to go to the local supermarket to buy their lunch, which was evaluated for nutritional value.
The test
The crews arrived at the test site, close to Pisa, late on Wednesday afternoon, where they were met by the Ralliart Italia team. After introductions to the team of engineers and technicians who will run their Mitsubishi rally cars this season, the crews saw their cars for the first time. While there was an emphasis on the driving, Ralliart Italia had also prepared demonstrations and workshops on how to work on all areas of the car, to ensure all drivers and co-drivers had a solid understanding of the mechanics of the Lancer as well as how to get the best out of the set-up for the car. Thursday was the day when the drivers and co-drivers got their hands dirty. They were busy changing wheels, altering the set-up of the Mitsubishis and generally familiarising themselves with the cars. The team had supplied three of last year’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Xs. Following a strip down, re-jig and rebuild the cars were like brand new. Two cars were running in gravel trim, with the third in asphalt specification.
Friday was spent with the five drivers getting accustomed to the latest-specification rally cars, with a gravel and an asphalt car being used on the test. All five of the drivers were in the car for the same amount of time during the test. Following this, the drivers all returned home and will not meet again before the opening round of this year’s Pirelli Star Driver programme – next month’s Rally of Turkey.
The year ahead
The first of the six rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship the Pirelli Star Drivers contest will be the Rally of Turkey (15-18 April). In addition to the Istanbul-based event, the five drivers and co-drivers will also compete on Rally de Portugal (27-30 May); Rally Finland (29-31 July); ADAC Rally Deutschland (19-22 August); Rallye de France (1-3 October) and the Rally of Great Britain (11-14 November). The Rally of Turkey will provide a tough opening encounter for the crews, who will all be competing in identical Ralliart Italia-built Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Xs. The Turkish round of the FIA World Rally Championship makes history this season, becoming the first event ever to straddle two continents: the service park is based in Europe, while the stages take place on the other side of the Bosphorus River in Asia. In addition to the actual competition, the Pirelli Star Drivers will also undergo a continual training and development process with ESP. Its staff will travel to Portugal, Finland and France to fine-tune the work they began with five drivers and co-drivers in Edinburgh earlier this week.
Quotes
Morrie Chandler, President of the World Rally Championship Commission
“We learned a great deal from the first year of the Pirelli Star Driver programme last season and we have used that knowledge to improve the 2010 scheme. One of the areas where the drivers and co-drivers have been doing more work in this week of training is, for example, on the set-up and mechanics of the car. The crews all arrived in Edinburgh with different levels of fitness and subsequently in Italy with different levels of mechanical aptitude, and our job is to try and get them to the same standard. I’m sure this is going to be a very exciting year for all of the guys involved in the programme.”
Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director
“It’s very exciting to see the five drivers and co-drivers embarking on what will be a fantastic season of learning for them. From what I’ve seen, this year’s crews are a great bunch of guys and they will all have taken a lot from the training and the testing they have done this week. Now, though, they’ll all be looking forward to getting in the car for the first competition. Pirelli is very proud to be working with the FIA and moving into the second year of the Star Driver scheme.”
Robert Reid, ESP co-founder
“In 2007, Marcus Grönholm won Rally New Zealand by three tenths of a second. Richard [Burns] and I won or lost nine rallies by less than 10 seconds. What we have been doing in Edinburgh is showing the drivers and co-drivers that they can get that time in lots of different ways: it’s not all about what happens on the stages, a lot of the time won and lost comes from the preparation ahead of rallies. This group has been very engaged in the process. They all want to learn and understand more about the opportunity they have got. The crews all took a great deal from all of the activities we did, but the heat chamber is always one of the most interesting aspects. We take the crews into 40 degrees; we then get them to exercise to 85 per cent of their heart rate capacity for 15 minutes to simulate a special stage. We then give them five minutes to tick-over, before another 10 minutes on the [exercise] bike to take them back up to 85 per cent; five minutes on tick-over and finally another 10 minutes of exercise. When they come out of the chamber, we ask them to do the same concentration test they did before they went in; the results always surprise them. We know that a two per cent drop in hydration can mean a 10 per cent drop in concentration. It then becomes very apparent to them why drivers will drink around 12 litres of water on the hot rallies. Practical experience is what the training is about and it’s worked really well this year.”
Nick Georgiou (Lebanon)
“The training was really relevant and that’s something which you can’t overstate the importance of. It was all directed at what we’re going to be doing through this season. In the past, my co-driver and I have tried to do some work in that area on our own, but we haven’t had anything like the success that we had in Edinburgh this week. It was great to have exactly the right people to talk to – I had a feeling it would be good, but I was really impressed. Edinburgh was also the first time we met the rest of the Pirelli Star Driver team and we got on really well. It’s interesting to hear that we all had similar experiences and we’re all thinking along the same lines about the year ahead. Coming from a Mitsubishi, I had an idea of what to expect with the car – but it was still fantastic to get in it and start driving.”
Peter Horsey (Kenya)
“What a fantastic way to start the season with the training. It was so worthwhile; it was the sort of thing I would have loved to have done earlier in my career. It’s great to be able to do it now, though and I’m sure the results and the data we have gathered here will really help me in the future. The facility in Edinburgh was great; to have classrooms to do all the written work right next door to something like the heat chamber was just great. I had a bit of first-hand experience of the way the heat can affect competition; on one event last year, I really struggled in the car – it was so hot and I was exhausted. I pulled through in the end and finished the rally, but the work we did with ESP made it quite plain to me what I have to do in those circumstances. After all that practical work and being in the classroom for a while, it was good to get out to Italy and to drive the cars. They were really good – and the team is very professional. I can’t wait to get started now!”
Hayden Paddon (New Zealand)
“The training we did in Edinburgh was fantastic. One of the great things about it was that it was so focused on rally drivers and co-drivers; it was exactly what we needed. We have a similar style of course in New Zealand, but that’s for race and rally drivers, so it wasn’t quite so focused on the stresses we go through on event. One of the really key things for me was the work we did in the heat chamber, which ideally replicated the hot conditions we can get in the car. It was interesting to see the way those conditions impacted on my body and what I could do to control that. On the driving side, I’ve spent a bit of time in a Lancer Evolution IX, which will help me a little, but the Evolution X does feel like a bit of a new car completely. It’s quite a lot bigger and it feels like that from the inside. It was fantastic to see the cars, though, and to meet the team.”
Alex Raschi (San Marino)
“The training has been beautiful! The WRC is very hard work and so we need to know what is coming to us and how to prepare for this. I enjoyed the gym; it was hard work – especially the running. As well as that, the school time was also good. I feel ready for the year now. There is some work for me to do, but it is coming – I also know I have to do more work with my English. When we get to test in Italy, this is also very useful for me to work with the team. I don’t have so much experience on this kind of car, so doing the technical work on Thursday (18 April) was good. I need to learn how to work on the car as well as how to drive it. I feel very ready for the first rally now. ”
Ott Tänak (Estonia)
“Very useful, they teach us so many things I didn’t know. It’s better than I had hoped for; I have never done anything like this at all. The best thing is the people who are teaching us these things have all been in our position and done what we are all trying to do, they know what we’re going through. It’s great to have people like Robert [Reid] to talk about his experience and to tell us how is the best way. It’s good for our future. Of course, it was really good to get to drive the car as well. I have driven Group N before, but the Subaru, not the Mitsubishi – so it was good to see how it compares. It’s a really nice car, the Lancer.”
Paddon first official entrant for Rally New Zealand in 2010
Rally New Zealand has accepted the first official entry for this year’s World Rally Championship event in May from two-time New Zealand rally champion Hayden Paddon.
Based in Auckland, Rally New Zealand takes place from 6 to 9 May with the rally route taking in a variety of roads north and south of Auckland to create a much-loved, world-class event.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have Hayden Paddon confirm his entry for Rally New Zealand,” says Paul Mallard, general manager of Rally New Zealand. “Hayden is poised on the brink of an exciting international career this year and it’s fantastic he will be in New Zealand to contest our event as part of his global competition aspirations.”
Paddon, from Geraldine, and his Blenheim-based co-driver John Kennard will be competing in Rally New Zealand as part of Paddon’s Production World Rally Championship campaign. The 22-year-old driver contests six world rallies in this campaign, four of which overlap with the Pirelli Star Driver programme that Paddon won during a shootout at Rally Australia last year.
“It’s always a special feeling to line up for Rally New Zealand, competing in front of your home crowd,” says Paddon. “It truly is the best rally run in Australasia and it showcases New Zealand to the more than 500 million fans who watch the World Rally Championship each year.”
Paddon and Kennard were the first Kiwis home when Rally New Zealand last ran in 2008, earning themselves the Woolf Whittaker Memorial Trophy.
“Not only do we want to repeat this significant achievement of being the first New Zealanders to finish Rally New Zealand in May this year, we’re aiming for the top of the PWRC podium as well!”
Rally fans can keep up to date with news about this year’s event via the website, www.rallynz.org.nz. Those who sign up for the Rally New Zealand newsletter before 20 April go in the draw to win a great money-can’t-buy prize package comprising a ride in a rally car for themselves and a friend during the official shakedown session in Auckland, a behind-the-scenes tour with a WRC team and guest passes for the whole event.
Radio Sport and Radio Hauraki back Hayden Paddon’s 2010 rally campaigns
Hayden Paddon, the young Kiwi driver off to contest several rounds of the World Rally Championship as a Pirelli Star Driver, has secured the support of two of New Zealand’s most popular radio stations: Radio Sport and Radio Hauraki.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have Radio Sport back our WRC Pirelli campaign and Radio Hauraki will feature on our Team Green Mitsubishi for the additional events we are contesting as part of the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC),” says the 22-year-old Paddon, who leaves for Europe on 9 March for fitness testing and car testing as part of the Pirelli Star Driver (PSD) campaign.
Like many successful Kiwi sportspeople, Paddon’s rallying successes to date have largely been due his own hard work and dedication, complemented by the support and effort of a small team, primarily friends and family.
“Being able to secure the support of major sponsors like Radio Sport and Radio Hauraki, and our other new sponsors Contiki Tours and Timaru’s All About Signs, takes time, perseverance and hard work,” says the Geraldine-based double New Zealand rally champion.
“With my hugely-valued co-driver John Kennard, from Blenheim, still with me, I’m at an exciting point in my career – we’re up for a very major step forward with this year’s international rally campaign taking us from Whangarei to Turkey, Germany and several points in-between,” says Paddon.
The Radio Network’s special projects manager Stuart Dwight says the organisation is very pleased to have joined Paddon’s team.
“We look forward to sharing his progress, results and exciting tales with our listeners as he embarks on the next stage of his journey to becoming the World Rally Champion,” says Dwight.
“The Radio Network utilises many of its stations to promote motorsport in New Zealand and around the world. Recognising that the sport is only second to rugby in popularity, TRN has associations with all forms of motor racing in New Zealand. As we continue to bring our listeners the very best motorsport news, we are sure that we have joined one of the best in Hayden Paddon.”
Paddon adds: “It’s great to have the continued support of some of our long-term partners – EDL Fasteners, Castrol, Pirelli, RallyTours, Endless Brakes and Paddon – which have all played a vital role in helping me to get to this point and it’s also fantastic that these organisations continue to support us as we head overseas for this year’s exciting two-pronged programme.”
In the Pirelli Star Driver events, Paddon’s bright-yellow Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X will feature Radio Sport’s logo, while in the other three events, the team’s distinctive green Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX carries the equally-distinctive Radio Hauraki guitar emblem.
Paddon also credits the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars International Award with contributing much-valued funding and mentoring to assist his goal of completing a full PWRC campaign in 2010.
“The successful completion of this goal to run competitively in the Production World Rally Championship – to achieve some podium finishes – is critical to my overarching goal of being the first New Zealander to compete in the World Rally Championship.”
The Paddon RallySport team also acknowledges the support of MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Steelplus, 1Group and Bluebridge Ferries.
Paddon has recently revamped his comprehensive website, www.hayden-paddon.com, with full details of his 2010 programme.
Hayden Paddon’s 2010 calendar
16-18 April – Rally Turkey (PSD)
6-9 May – Rally New Zealand (PWRC)
28-30 May – Rally Portugal (PSD)
2-4 July – International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand
29-31 July – Rally Finland (PSD, PWRC)
20-22 August – Rally Germany (PSD, PWRC)
10-12 September – Rally Japan (PWRC)
30 September-3 October – Rally France (PSD, PWRC)
11-14 November – Rally Great Britain (PSD, PWRC)
For background information, read an interview with Hayden on wrc.com – http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=a01&id=6774&desc=Paddon to contest full P-WRC campaign in 2010
Paddon prepares for Pirelli Star Driver training in Europe
Hayden Paddon’s quest for success in this year’s Production World Rally Championship starts with a Pirelli Star Driver training programme in Edinburgh, Scotland on 14 March.
Paddon, from Geraldine, and his Blenheim-based co-driver John Kennard leave New Zealand on 9 March to participate in the three-day fitness training and preparation programme being run at the Edinburgh University.
“It still seems a little surreal, not having had any physical contact with the team, Ralliart Italy which runs our Pirelli Star Driver cars, or the car itself at this point, with just over a month to our first rally in Turkey,” says the 22-year-old double New Zealand rally champion.
"But it’s fantastic that it is almost time to go rallying again!” enthuses Paddon. “This first Pirelli Star Driver trip to Europe signals the next major step in my international rallying career.”
Paddon won the Asia Pacific round of the global Pirelli Star Driver competition during Rally Australia last September. The FIA-developed driver development programme provides Paddon with a fully-funded Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X in which to compete in six rounds of this year’s World Rally Championship – a prize worth around NZ $1 million. Four of these events offer the chance to earn points in the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC), and Paddon and Kennard will also contest two other world rallies – Rally New Zealand and Rally Japan – in order to put together a full six-round PWRC campaign.
Paddon describes the Edinburgh training programme as being similar to New Zealand’s own Motorsport Academy.
“There will be rigorous fitness testing, and advice on nutrition and how to best prepare ourselves for the year ahead.
"Both John and I have been working on our fitness hard over the past 3-4 months. I have made a lot of progress and am fitter than I have been before, and still I am not halfway to where I want to be, so physical fitness is something that I will continue to build over the course of the year. It’s definitely going to be a physically and psychologically demanding year, but also an extremely exciting year as John and I get to experience the fantastic challenges of rallying all over the world!”
Paddon and Kennard then fly to the northern Italian city of Sondrio to Ralliart Italy’s operational base. As well as running the five identical bright-yellow Pirelli Star Driver cars, the team campaigns the Lancer EVO X of 2009 PWRC champion Armindo Araujo, who came third in the production class in this year’s opening WRC round in Sweden.
“We spend another few days there, meeting the team and driving the cars for the first time. We’ll have one day of tarmac testing and one day on gravel,” says Paddon who is already familiar with a left-hand-drive Lancer rally car.
The Mitsubishis are the same cars used by last year’s first five Pirelli Star Drivers which included New Zealander Mark Tapper.
“I am looking forward to driving the newer model Mitsubishi compared to the Evo IX that we campaign here. The Evo X is a bigger car, but they are also a lot more powerful and better balanced.”
Having mechanics doing the work on the car will be different for Paddon, who does much of the between-event work on his own cars himself.
“I’ll have enough to be dealing with without worrying about working on the cars! I imagine when we first get to Italy and sit in the car that it may take a moment to take it all in, because the journey really starts now.
“Right from the start, John and I have to make sure that we are on top of our game, because testing is restricted. We need to make the most of every possible opportunity to get behind the wheel of the EVO X and test it on various roads and set-ups. It’s essentially an all-new car to us – there will be many similarities with our EVO IX variant, but enough new things to keep us on our toes!”
Paddon and Kennard return New Zealand on 23 March and aim to fit in plenty more fitness training before jetting back to Europe and their first event as a Pirelli Star Driver team in Rally Turkey, based in Istanbul, starting on 15 April.
Paddon extends his thanks to sponsors Pirelli, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, EDL Fasteners, Castrol, RallyTours, Endless Brakes, Paddon, Contiki Tours, Rally New Zealand, All About Signs, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, Total Automotive, Andar the Front Store, Resene, FMG, Reaction Racing, Pope Print and Bluebridge Ferries.
Double New Zealand rally champion and Asia-Pacific recipient of one of five drives in this year’s Pirelli Star Driver scholarship, 22-year-old Hayden Paddon and his co-driver John Kennard have confirmed they will contest a full 2010 FIA Production World Rally Championship (PWRC).
Paddon, from Geraldine, and Kennard, from Blenheim, are the only New Zealand team to have entered the 2010 Production World Rally Championship.
Nine of the 13 World Rally Championship events are specified as being PWRC rounds, and then competitors must complete six of those nine rallies around the globe in production-based Group N cars to be eligible for PWRC points.
“The PWRC teams run directly behind the WRC superstars like Sébastien Loeb, Mikko Hirvonen and WRC newcomer, ex Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen,” explains Paddon.
Four of the PWRC events – Finland, France, Germany and Great Britain – are also rallies that the pair contests as one of the Pirelli Star Drivers.
“With the PSD campaign, we also contest Turkey and Portugal,” says Paddon. “But as these are not PWRC events, we will make up the six rounds needed to complete a PWRC campaign by adding our home event, Rally New Zealand in early May and Rally Japan two months later.”
While in Europe, Paddon will be at the wheel of a left-hand-drive Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X. For the additional PWRC rounds in New Zealand and Japan, he’ll be back in the Team Green Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, the car he used to win his place as a Pirelli Star Driver at Rally Australia last year.
“A very exciting year lies ahead for us, and being able to put a full PWRC campaign together, over and above our existing Pirelli Star Driver programme, is a dream come true,” says the passionate rally competitor.
“To think we will be competing in eight of this year’s 13 rounds of the World Rally Championship is massive, but there is a lot of hard work still to be done to ensure we can extend this campaign and be a contender at every WRC event in 2011!”
Paddon was able to put together the additional programme to compete in New Zealand and Japan after being named the inaugural recipient of the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars International Scholarship in November last year.
“The team has also been able to secure exciting support packages for the 2010 season from EDL Fasteners, Castrol, Rallytours and new Team Green supporter Contiki Tours,” adds Hayden. “And we’re looking forward to announcing further Team Green partners in coming weeks.”
Only two New Zealanders have previously been entered for the full PWRC: rally great Possum Bourne and last year’s Pirelli Star Driver recipient, fellow New Zealand rally driver Mark Tapper. Being able to compete in a full PWRC calendar means Paddon and the team can begin to put in place the next part of their plan: to work towards winning the Production World Rally Championship title.
“We have a detailed and realistic plan for the next eight years, based on my ultimate goal of making it to the pinnacle of rallying, the WRC. Part of this plan was to win the PWRC within three years, but after sitting down and analysing our current progress and speed, we believe this is something we can achieve in two years.
“The goal this year is to learn the events – they will all be new events for John and me – but we also want to be competitive and we’re aiming for a podium championship result.”
Paddon is realistic about the challenges and the size of the objective ahead, but believes that to continue to move forward at this elite level of the sport, he must have a good year in 2010 to help secure the funding required for 2011 and beyond.
“With our plans 90% in place for 2010, we are already negotiating plans and budgets for 2011, so we can try to continue forward in the World Rally Championship. The best way we can help this cause is to be competitive this year, whether these are new events or not. We are lucky that our first two WRC events, in Turkey and Portugal, are part of our Pirelli programme but not rounds of the PWRC, so we can ease into our new Mitsubishi EVO X and get used to some of the different terrain we will encounter.”
The coming months will be busy ones for Paddon and the team as they go about completing the rebuild and testing of their Team Green championship-winning Mitsubishi EVO IX, which will be used on selected events in 2010. Paddon and Kennard then head to Europe in early March to begin training and testing with the other Pirelli Star Drivers, before their first event with the PSD team in Turkey from 14-18 April.
Team Green will also undertake selected rounds of the New Zealand Rally Championship, plus other events offshore that fit their programme, to gain further experience and exposure. Full details of what will be the busiest year to date for Paddon and the team will be posted on their all new website, www.hayden-paddon.com, within a few weeks.
Double National Rally Champion Hayden Paddon is looking forward to his debut on the iconic weeklong tarmac Dunlop Targa next week. After a successful 2009 rally campaign, Hayden and Team Green have entered the gruelling event in their Rallytours backed Mitsubishi Evo9 as a learning experience ahead of the 2010 World Rally Championship. Winning the coveted Pirelli Star Driver scholarship at last months Rally Australia has given Hayden a once in a lifetime opportunity to contest 6 rounds of the World Rally Championship in 2010, a programme which includes complete tarmac rallies, a surface that is all new to Hayden. “I used to do go-karting on race tracks when I was younger, but other than that I have not done a lot of tarmac driving. So first and foremost our goal for Dunlop Targa is to use the event to gain mileage on the more adhesive surface, and to see what I need to do to adapt my driving to suit.” The event, which starts in Auckland on Sunday 25 October, treks the length of the North Island, using some of the best tarmac roads that are hidden away in back country valleys and along scenic ridge tops, before finishing in Wellington on 31 October. “I cannot think of anything better than rallying for 7 days straight. Despite taking a bit of a low key approach to the event, I will have to keep my wits about me because it will be all new to me, especially driving flat out on roads like this without pace notes.” As the team are focusing on extending their experience of driving a production car, as Hayden will continue to do next year, they have left the Team Green Mitsubishi in production trim, while taking the opportunity to adopt new 2010 regulations that allow a slightly larger turbo restrictor. “On open fast roads it will be difficult to keep pace with some of the Porsche GT3’s and Nissan Skylines, but I believe there will be some tighter stages where we may be able to set some competitive times, though that is not our focus.” Despite the event been driven without any reconnaissance, Hayden will be in good hands, with Targa veteran and Rallytours director Greg Paul being drafted in to the co-drivers seat for the marathon. Greg and Rallytours, who joined Team Green in 2009, host tour groups at selected World Championship events, something that has proved popular with rally enthusiasts worldwide. With continued support from Endless, Reaction Racing, Dunlop Tyres, Timaru Signs, Total Automotive, In-Tune Automotive and the rest of the 2009 Team Green partners, Hayden will compete in this iconic event with an eye to the future. At the conclusion of Dunlop Targa, the team will head home to prepare for the Westland Rally on the 12-13 November where they will run as course opening car. The new look Westland Rally will incorporate tarmac stages on Friday night in addition to their usual fantastic gravel roads on Saturday, which will give Hayden the chance to put into practice some of his lessons from the Dunlop Targa. For Dunlop Targa information and results visit www.targa.co.nz or www.hayden-paddon.com. The team would also like to thank their loyal supporters and sponsors for their continued support including Paddon Direct, EDL Fasteners, Rally Tours, Dunlop tyres, FMG, Endless Brakes, Castrol oils, Hella, Teng Tools, Bluebridge Ferrys, Resene Automotive Paints, Murray Coote Suspension, In-Tune Automotive, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, Pope Print, ZM, Steelplus, Andar the Front Store and Timaru Signs. PHOTO: New Team Green colours for Targa 2009
"It’s been a pretty stellar year. I couldn’t have dreamed for a better set of results. All in all the whole team is over the moon," he says. After extending his overnight lead, Paddon (22) and co-driver John Kennard went on to win three of today's six stages and take a solid victory of 42 seconds over Richard Mason and Hamish Fenemor of Masterton. "Although we wrapped up the championship yesterday, today was all about trying to win the rally, which was not an easy task in our older Evo 8." Paddon said it wasn’t all plain sailing and on the rougher second stage today, a rock got wedged between the prop shaft and the prop shaft guard. "The rock tried to stop the prop shaft from spinning and consequently damaged the centre diff from the stress. From there the handling of the car was unpredictable and sometimes very taily although once we adjusted to the different handling characteristics we were still able to set some good stage times." Paddon and Team Green will now turn their focus to competing in next month’s Dunlop Targa - a week-long tarmac event held in the North Island. Their entry has been made possible by Rally Tours and will enable Paddon to clock up more tarmac experience in preparation for his Pirelli Star Driver scholarship which will see him compete in six World Rally Championship events next year. "I'm sure we will be doing at least one tarmac rally. In the coming months I will need regular seat time as well as preparing myself mentally and physically for competing at the elite level of rallying." Paddon is pleased his regular co-driver John Kennard will accompany him in his WRC quest next year. "He has been pivotal in my career and I hope we carry on progressing at the same rate as we are." This weekend's result is a great way to cap off what has been a successful campaign for Team Green in the NZRC which has involved a mix of consistency speed and reliability. "The team have poured in a lot of time and effort which is reflected in the results we have achieved and I can’t thank them enough." The team would also like to thank their loyal supporters and sponsors for their continued support including Paddon Direct, EDL Fasteners, Rally Tours, Dunlop Tyres, FMG, Endless Brakes, Castrol oils, Hella, Teng Tools, Bluebridge Ferrys, Resene Automotive Paints, Murray Coote Suspension, In-Tune Automotive, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, Pope Print, ZM, Steelplus, Andar the Front Store and Timaru Signs. More information on Team Green at www.hayden-paddon.com. Hayden Paddon +64 27 318 1748 hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz PHOTO CAPTIONS Team Green celebrate a stellar year, capped off with a win at the Nelson Rally this weekend, which handed their driver Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard their second NZRC victory in a row. Paddon in action in his Mitsubishi Evo 8 at Rally Nelson this weekend. PHOTO CREDITS: EUAN CAMERON.
After a stellar year including three round victories and winning the Pirelli Star Driver scholarship, Geraldine’s Hayden Paddon and Team Green are looking forward to the championship finale in Nelson this weekend, and the chance to defend their New Zealand Rally Championship crown. Paddon along with co-driver John Kennard will cross the start ramp in the heart of Nelson on Saturday with a 61 point lead. And with a maximum points haul of 74 points up for grabs over the two day event, the championship is far from in the bag. However, Paddon needs only to finish ninth or better on one of the two days in Nelson to retain the title. "We won't count our chickens before they hatch and will keep our heads screwed on and carry on doing the job we've been doing all season,'' he said. “It is easier for us to continue driving at a comfortable pace rather than being conscious about taking it easy as that’s when mistakes creep in”. The last time that Paddon and Kennard competed in Nelson was in 2007, driving their Mitsubishi Evo 8 to victory. After their successful Rally Australia campaign, the Evo 9 that has done them proud for the New Zealand championship will not make it back in time for the start, so Team Green have prepared the same Evo 8 that won in 2007 to tackle the fast flowing roads in and around the Golden Downs Forest complex. “Sure the Evo 8 is not quite the package we have with the Evo 9, however in saying that the faster Nelson roads will not disadvantage the Evo 8 as much as some of the other rallies in the calendar.” The Geraldine driver, buoyed by earning a Pirelli Star Driver award, winning the Group N section and finishing ninth overall at the WRC Rally of Australia last weekend has since been preparing for what he describes “would be the icing on the cake”. “The last 10 days have been amazing, coming to terms of the thought of competing on the world stage next year. I must admit that keeping busy with the preparations for this weekend has helped me to get my feet grounded. To defend our title would mean so much to the whole team and all our sponsors.” Second-placed Emma Gilmour, of Hamilton, is the only driver still in contention to prevent Paddon retaining the title, which combined with tough competition from past NZ champions Richard Mason and Chris West, means Paddon is expecting a good battle for the win. “I’m sure there will be several teams gunning for victory, but first and foremost our focus is the championship. With that in mind we will not involve ourselves in any battles on the opening day but it would be good to stay in contention so that we can wind the old girl up on the second day.” More information on the event can be found at www.rallynelson.co.nz and Team Green at www.hayden-paddon.com. For live results visit Team Green’s website or www.chrissport.co.nz. The team would also like to thank their loyal supporters and sponsors for their continued support including Paddon Direct, EDL Fasteners, Rally Tours, Dunlop Tyres, FMG, Endless Brakes, Castrol oils, Hella, Teng Tools, Bluebridge Ferrys, Resene Automotive Paints, Murray Coote Suspension, In-Tune Automotive, Vicarage Lane Wines, Northend Ford, Pope Print, ZM, Steelplus, Andar the Front Store and Timaru Signs. PHOTO: Euan Cameron Hayden Paddon +64 27 318 1748