There’s a certain romance around the idea that Hayden Paddon could be offered Sebastien Ogier’s vacant seat at M-Sport for next year’s World Rally Championship.
A full 13-round program would be the icing on the cake for the Kiwi after a strong second half of the season.
Strong mail suggests that Esapekka Lappi is off to Citroen, with Kris Meeke filling his seat at Toyota, leaving drivers such as Paddon, Craig Breen and Mads Ostberg still with nothing locked in for 2019.
On Sunday, WRC Live’s Jon Desborough hinted that Paddon had an ‘offer on the table’ from another team, but he wouldn’t expand on those comments.
According to respected journalist Martin Holmes, however, we may see no change at all next season.
“I would be surprised if he (Paddon) has anything more than a partial WRC program next year,” Holmes told Talk Motorsport this week.
“I feel that driving with any other team will cause too big a disruption, because of his Hyundai NZ connections.”
That seems to make good sense, with many believing Paddon is keen to set up a legacy with Hyundai, similar to what the great Possum Bourne achieved with Subaru over many years.
While the betting is that he’ll have another part-program with Dani Sordo next year, in this part of the world there’s been little talk about the Spaniard.
Is Sordo locked in at Hyundai, or could he fill a third seat at Citroen alongside Ogier and Lappi?
If he does, that would leave a full-time gig for Paddon at Hyundai, doing all 13 rounds of next year’s championship.
That would put plenty of time pressure on his Hyundai NZRC program for 2019, but it’s a nice problem to have.
Whatever the outcome, Paddon will be in the WRC in some form next year. Once some of the other cards start to fall, his program (and his future) will become a lot clearer.
Comments