Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have won the 2022 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship title after an epic fight at the eastern Australian location of Coffs Harbour, 25-27 November 2022.
“We had to do it the difficult way after yesterday’s (Saturday) dramas and time penalties, but to come from behind makes it even sweeter,” commented Paddon (Hyundai i20N AP4). “I really enjoyed the battle with Harry (Bates) (Toyota GR Yaris AP4).”
Although Paddon won the opening three Special Stages (SS) on Saturday, first he and co-driver John Kennard had to contend with a blown turbo hose (SS3).
Next, after SS4 had been cancelled, they then suffered a front axle failure and went into damage control for the remaining four stages of the day, dropping 27.7 seconds behind rival Harry Bates/ John McCarthy.
“That was a pretty trying day, but we survived to the end and were still well in the hunt,” said Paddon. “That afternoon a broken driveshaft in the first stage after service meant we had to complete three stages in 3WD. We pushed to minimise the time loss and to make sure we stayed in contention (for Sunday).”
Having fixed the axle for Sunday’s six Special Stages, Paddon and Kennard clocked into the first stage with a 30 second time penalty from having arrived late at TC5A on Saturday.
They then won the next five stages clawing back time on Bates and then taking the lead at the end of SS11 by 1.2 seconds.
Unfortunately for Bates, his rally came to a stop on the fourth stage (SS12) on Sunday with an off-road excursion. Paddon’s lead immediately jumped out to a much safer 3min 18.9 seconds over Lewis Bates/Anthony McLoughlin (Toyota GR Yaris AP4).
Lewis Bates went on to win the final stage of the event to finish in second behind Paddon, 4 min 09.6sec adrift with Richie Dalton/Dale Moscatt (Toyota Yaris AP4) in third.
“A massive thanks to our team,” said Paddon. “Once again an incredible job on what was a very tough event on the car.”
Results of Coffs Coast Rally 2022 – position determines championship position
1/ Hayden Paddon/John Kennard, Hyundai i20
2/ Lewis Bates/Anthony McLoughlin ,Toyota GR Yaris AP4 +4:09.6
3/ Richie Dalton/Dale Moscatt, Toyota Yaris AP4 +6:16.5
4/ Daniel Gonzalez/Damon Nicoli, Skoda Fabia R5 +8:30.1
DNF Harry Bates/John McCarthy, Toyota GR Yaris AP4 Retired: SS12: Off Road
DNF Luke Anear/Alan Stephenson, Ford Fiesta R5 Retired: SS2: Off Road
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