Hayden Paddon heads back to Europe this week to compete in the new Global Rallycross Europe championship. He will be driving a Pantera RX6 car with a Hyundai i30 body kit in the 10-round series that gets underway in Dreux, France, with two rounds this weekend.
“I don’t really know a lot about it,” commented Paddon. “It’s a mix of rally and circuit racing. You’ve got a bit of a rally car racing on mixed surfaces with other cars in a stadium, so should be good fun.”
MJP Promotions is the promoter of Global Rallycross Europe as the first of a worldwide Rallycross series with a joint Grand Finale event.
In 2019, GRC Europe will field two categories, GRC Titans and GRC Supercars. GRC Titans will field up to fifteen PanteraRX6 cars, which have been specifically developed by MJP Racing in Austria, to cater for top-notch Rallycross action at affordable pricing.
Up to 20 GRC (FIA based) Supercars will battle for points in the other class. Balance of Performance (BOP) rules will guarantee a level grid. Every team has one car in each category.
“They approached us last year wanting us to do one or two races as a ‘guest for a couple of rounds. When my WRC drive fell through last year I went back to them and said that I could be involved this year and they have made the opportunity to compete for the whole championship.
“Any car I drive I want to win, but for the first round I have no expectations. I’ve never been on a track or circuit with another car around me. so the first time will be race one on Saturday.”
Part of Paddon Rallysport’s lineup is a Hyundai i30 N TCR that recently arrived in May. Brought in to help with driver and technology development, the new Hyundai was recently on show at both the Mystery Creek Field Days outside of Hamilton as well as at the South Canterbury Rally over the weekend.
“I’ve done about five laps around Highlands, so we don’t know a whole lot yet. It is a matter of getting to know it. We’ll strip it down and do a rebuild and maybe do some endurance races later in the year.
“It’s a nice bit of kit and from the laps we have done the impressive thing is the corner speeds. It is very very stable. That’s where the (quick) lap times come from. Already the times are much the same as a GT3 and we haven’t done anything with it.
“Coming from Hyundai Motorsport they have made a good job of it (the build). The Hyundai is one of the leading TCR cars at the moment if you look at the different (TCR) championships around the world. Its a good base to start from.”
On Saturday Paddon and co-driver Samantha Gray won the South Canterbury Rally. Their Hyundai i20 AP4 had a faultless run throughout the one-day event, enabling the pair to win with a margin of six minutes, 54.4 seconds from second-placed Ben Hunt. Paddon was entered in the all-comers category, having opted not to enter the New Zealand Rally Championship this year. This enabled the team to made changes to the car, outside of the NZRC regulations.
“All we have done is gone from a 34 to a 36mm (turbo) restrictor which gives us about another 40hp. We have also extended sixth gear a little bit to give us some top end. This (South Canterbury) rally is extraordinary fast. Last year it was fun but we had no power or speed.
“The gear ratio in our car (under NZ Rally Champ rules) is normally shorter as we don’t have a lot of power. That’s the one down side of our car, our engine is not so strong. We have a very basic engine in the car so to compensate for that we have very short gear ratios to help with acceleration but then you don’t have the top speed. For this weekend we have opened up the restrictor for more power and done a bit more with the gear ratios.”
Paddon is also competing in – and leading – the FIA Pacific Cup, part of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. In August he will compete at the final round of the FIA Pacific Cup, the Eureka Rush Rally in Australia in the Walkem MotorSport’s Hyundai i20 R5.
“There are a lot of similarities with our AP4 car and the (Hyundai) R5.
“The R5 works in a wider window whereas the AP4 works slightly better when it’s in the window, but the window is very narrow in an AP4. The R5 probably has more torque, while the AP4 has more horsepower.
“All in all they are pretty even although on fast stages the AP4 would be faster while in twisty stages it would be the R5.
The final of the regional APRC in China in October won’t see Paddon competing.
“It’s too expensive for one shootout where things could go wrong. Too risky for us.”
Meanwhile the Paddon Rallysport crew will re-fit the Hyundai i20 AP4 into its hillclimb specifications in preparation for the Ashley Forest Rallysprint in September. He’ll also run the car in this specification for the Waimate 50 street race which celebrates its 60th year over the weekend of 26-27 October.
GRC Europe 2019 Calendar
Round 1&2 – Dreux, FRA 29-30 June
Round 3&4 – Lydden Hill, GBR 27-28 July
Round 5&6 – Montalegre, POR 10-11 August
Round 7&8 – MJP Arena, AUT 7-8 September
Round 9&10 – Nyirád, HUN 5–6 October
Finale – Estering, GER 19-20 October
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