While former World Rally Championship title holders have returned to the category, Hayden Paddon’s recall to the Hyundai Motorsport Team to compete in the 2026 WRC is completely unexpected. Hyundai Motorsport announced that he will join the Korean manufacturer for the 2026 season starting with the Rally Monte Carlo at the end of January. He may be pinching himself at the opportunity while we are still picking ourselves up off the floor!
There’s a salient lesson in this for all up and coming young motorsport drivers. You won’t win Lotto unless you buy a ticket. You won’t find out unless you ask and sometimes it is a matter of picking up the phone and making the call. That’s what Hayden Paddon did.
While we are still getting over the shock of his return to the World Rally Championship, Hayden Paddon is already well prepared for his return to the World Rally Championship with Hyundai Motorsport since he was dropped from their team eight years ago.
So how did this recall come about?
“It was all quite unexpected, and all started with Ott Tänak deciding to step away from the sport,” said Paddon. “I was sitting there one-day and decided to give Andrew Wheatley (Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal) a ring to say that I’m available and we are still here!”
It wasn’t completely a cold call as Paddon has an established relationship with Hyundai and thus Hyundai Motorsport because of his involvement with a Rally2 program as well as his having competed in the European Rally Championship.
His phone call was not unlike Brendon Hartley’s after his tenure with the Porsche World Endurance Championship works team came to an end in 2017 and he got on the phone to Helmut Marko at Red Bull to say he was available. This eventuated in a test and then two-weeks later he was making his Formula One debut with the Scuderia Toro Rosso team. In other words, don’t wait for the phone to ring!
“Andrew (Wheatley) came back and said that we were on the short list and are we interested,” said Paddon. “Of course, I said yes. It happened very quickly, and we didn’t have much time to think about it. The team believe in us, their (2026) targets are realistic, and it will be about playing the team game.”
Is Paddon’s return to the WRC one of the great comebacks? I’d say no, rather putting the proposition that Paddon never completely left.
While physically Paddon was removed from competing in the top-tier of the category, did he ever mentally and emotionally leave? His heart and mind have always been about getting back in some way, hence his working towards having a Kiwi team in the WRC2 championship. Has his time in the European Rally Championship and becoming a two-time title winner all part of his return to Europe?
What is significant here is that Paddon has regained his WRC seat with Hyundai while physically based in NZ, on the other side of the world. That is quite remarkable in itself.
The next question to consider is whether Paddon is as fast as he was eight years ago?
“When you are young, all you want to do is win rallies,” commented Paddon. “You think you are bullet proof. Now I am at a different level and more of a complete driver.
“Experience means you know your strengths and weaknesses. You may be faster when you’re young, but you don’t win by being fastest on Stage 1.”
And what of his domestic program?
“We will continue to be involved in the domestic scene,” said Paddon. “Which events I am not sure due to needing to be flexible with WRC requirements. We still want to push forward with domestic scene and will continue to run customer cars.”
The first three 2026 NZ Rally Championship rounds do clash with the WRC (Otago Rally/Rally Croatia, Canterbury/Rally Japan, Rally Southland/Rally Estonia), the final three (Rally Hawke’s Bay, Whangarei International Rally and Bay of Plenty Rally) do not.
Other than the opening Monte Carlo Rally at the end of January, Paddon’s is unclear of which other WRC events he will participate in and then there is always testing and marketing requirements between rallies.
The first WRC event for Paddon and co-driver John Kennard is Monte Carlo in late January.
“It’s a dauting rally for more ways than one,” said Paddon. “It’s not a favorite, but it is an historical event. The accident in 2017 is in the past and will not be forgotten. That’s part of life, facing your fears which you have to tackle it head on.
“We’ve got some realistic targets for the event. It’s winter tarmac, changeable conditions, black ice, always a compromise with tyres and set up as you can have grip then no grip which is constantly changing. We all love it for what it is.
“We have one test before Monte, then it’s straight into a night stage.”
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