Yesterday’s official opening of Paddon Rallysport at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell is another step in the career of New Zealand’s best and most successful rally driver, Hayden Paddon.
Having found himself out of a World Rally Championship drive for 2019, the Kiwi has focused his energies into two areas. Getting back into a WRC drive and establishing a rally-sport business in New Zealand.
Sitting down with Paddon on Friday afternoon, I asked him what were the key or critical moments in his career, both good or bad?
The 2005 Canterbury Rally was probably the first critical point in his career when he rolled out of the event in his Mitsubishi Evo 4.
“That helped us with fund-raising and gaining a different approach going forward which helped with getting into the NZ Rally Championship (NZRC). Otherwise that probably wouldn’t have happened. We ended up getting into an Evo 8 the following year.”
In 2006 Paddon won both the Junior and Rookie titles in the NZRC.
The next critical moment was winning the Pirelli Star Driver Scholarship in 2010. Leading up to this, Paddon made his first World Rally Championship (WRC) debut at his home rally in 2007, Rally New Zealand, as a wildcard entry in the Production World Rally Championship and then later that year with Team Jordan in Rally GB (Mitsi Evo 9).
In 2008 he won the NZRC title which he retained in 2009 as well as winning the Pacific Cup and qualifying for the Pirelli Star Driver Asia-Pacific final at the 2009 Rally Australia. Paddon won the scholarship giving him a fully funded programme for six events of the 2010 World Rally Championship season.
“Winning the Pirelli Star Driver Scholarship (2010) was a key point that gave us the jump into the World Rally Championship.
“After that I would probably say the Yprey Rally in 2013 ( Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally). That was the third year of our self-funding our WRC exploits and we were running quite dry on funds.
“Yprey was a rally that was highly recommended to us on the basis that Alain Penasse manager of Hyundai Motorsport was there, as it was his rally. He organised it, so then it put us in Alain’s good-books and gave us our first introduction to Hyundai Motorsport for the first time and thats where the relationship started.”
It’s a specialised rally so Paddon’s result didn’t matter. It was a matter of being there.
In 2015 at Rally Italia Sardegna, Paddon and co-driver John Kennard climbed onto the podium for the first time in a WRC event finishing second.
“Poland in 2015 was the next key event. Sardenia was our first podium which is something we remember pretty fondly, but then the following rally in Poland we backed it up with another good result (fourth), and that’s what confirmed the discussions we had with Hyundai for a three year (WRC) contract.
“It’s often the ‘odd-ball’ events that people don’t realise are the key moments.”
But what about his first stage win at Rally Spain in 2014, or the first time leading a WRC event in 2015 at Rally Italia Sardegna or even his first WRC rally win in 2016 at Rally Argentina?
“Personally these were hugely satisfying but in terms of career-wise, they didn’t change anything. Your are at that level that you keep progressing. Stage wins lead to leading rallies which lead to podiums which lead to winning rallies so it’s a natural progression.
“As long as you are progressing you are on the right path and people will support that and for three or four years we were on that path.”
What about 2017 at Monte Carlo? There, Paddon crashed out on the first stage, losing control of his Hyundai which resulted in a spectator fatality. It was more a case of spectators being in a place they should not have been in. Did that impact on Paddon personally or even career-wise?
“I don’t think it did career-wise. We were only into our second of a three year contract. We weren’t having to prove ourselves, we had already done that.
“To be honest, people thought that it was about the Monte accident but there was a lot more to that year than that accident. That was the start of things. There was personal stuff going on, we had a lot of technical difficulties with the car which put us on the back foot. We never really had a chance to show ourselves and it took 18 months for the team to change the car to how we had it in 2016 and how it suited my driving. That was a frustrating time.”
But still Monte sticks in peoples minds!
“At the end of the day I never blamed anyone for the accident at Monte. It’s irrelevant to whether the person was or wasn’t standing in the right or wrong place. It’s clear what the situation was without my saying anything. I was doing my job, driving the car so it was an unfortunate accident.
“Sure I was disheartened by it. What happened, happened. I couldn’t change anything so moving forward I was more determined to work with the FIA to make changes so it didn’t happen again.
“We had a bad ’17 and people put it down to Monte which is not correct. Monte had an affect but it was business as usual and we didn’t really get a break for various reasons.”
And now the establishment of his Paddon Rallysport at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell.
“I’m hugely excited about this. I want to be driving a World Rally Car which is the ultimate. In saying that, there is a lot of politics and other aspects away from the driving.
“With what I am doing now I am a lot happier than I have been for a long time, this is a project which is my own dream.
“Everyone is enthusiastic, we are all working together, on the same page and ultimately I want to take our own team around the world. I still want to drive and win, but with a Kiwi team.”
Is it critical point in Paddon’s career?
“It’s the start of a new era. It’s pressing a reset button. We have various projects and new technology that we want to develop. It’s the first time now we are employing people – six people. Its quite significant, similar to when I started my driving career. I have to prove myself, find the funds, but now in a business sense. I really believe in it and am passionate about this next phase?”
So why NZ and not in Europe?
“NZ is home for me and always has been. The culture in Europe is so different. I am a Kiwi through and through and want to do things the Kiwi way. Here there is less boundaries, more freedom and good Kiwi ingenuity.
“The whole travel thing for WRC is really irrelevant. I would much rather prefer being based here and hopping on a plane with 30 hours of travel to do a rally in Europe. NZ is my natural environment.”
There is one thing for certain. Paddon has a vision and an objective. He’s galvanised the right people around him with the right funding and has set his plan in motion. Yes, this is another defining moment in his career.
Comments