A multi-event program in the 2022 World Rally Championship beckons for Hayden Paddon as the Kiwi tries to re-ignite his WRC career.
The 2016 Rally of Argentina winner looks set to be back in a Rally2 (formerly R5) Hyundai i20 next year, culminating in his home event in New Zealand.
“Rally2 is the most realistic option,” Paddon told DirtFish recently.
“Naturally, I want to be in a Rally1 car, but I know I need to get back [to WRC] and that’s why we’re working on some stuff for next year.
“We’re not there yet with the program, but if you look back to PWRC and SWRC you’ll find that a lot of drivers start their campaigns later into the season – it gives you just that little bit more time to secure the funding.
“That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re working with Hyundai New Zealand, we obviously have very good relations with them, they’ve stuck with us through thick and thin.”
The Cromwell-based driver has had four prior returns to the WRC thwarted over recent seasons, including World Rally Car entries in 2019 for M-Sport at Rally Finland (pre-event accident) and Rally Australia (event cancelled due to bushfires).
Then the pandemic got in the way and his plans were sidelined once again.
“I’ve been trying to get back overseas and doing it over two years is the sensible way to do it. There’s no point going back for five minutes.”
While the majority of his 2022 program would likely be in a Rally2 car, Paddon is eager to be in one of the new Hyundai i20 Rally1 hybrid cars for Rally New Zealand at the end of September.
“To be in a Rally1 car for Rally New Zealand would be the dream,” he said.
“I know the roads like the back of my hand and I think I could do a good job. I still feel we’re in really good shape and I know I’m driving well.
“Obviously I’ve been working with my Kona EV here and that gives me some insight into how to drive an electric or hybrid car.”
It is not yet known if plans to compete overseas will rule Paddon out of the New Zealand Rally Championship.
Over and out as rain delays play in Australia
In cricketing terms, it was all over before a ball was even bowled, which pretty much sums up the past two years of motorsport.
The final round of the Australian Rally Championship had been rescheduled to mid-December to avoid the worst of the COVID-19 restrictions.
It would have been just the third round of the series, but it would have been enough to crown a champion driver for the first time since 2019.
Murphy’s Law stepped in though.
In wasn’t COVID this time. It wasn’t even early summer bushfires. It was rain, and lots of it.
On the Thursday and Friday before the rally the weather gurus had predicted up to 180 millimetres of rain, and that was more than enough for the NSW Forestry to withdraw the permit to run the rally.
It meant that Harry Bates was denied his second title, and other ARC protagonists were robbed of the chance for once last skid in the forest.
As it turned out, less than half of the predicted rain fell in the area in the south east of NSW, but it mattered little, and the season was done.
Now, crews look ahead to a seven-round championship in 2022, starting with the National Capital Rally in Canberra in April.
2022 Motorsport Australia Rally Championship:
Round One: Netier National Capital Rally – 2-3 April
Round Two: Make Smoking History Forest Rally – 21–22 May
Round Three: Rally Tasmania – 25–26 June
Round Four: Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland – 23–24 July
Round Five: Gippsland Rally – 27–28 August
Round Six: AGI Sport Adelaide Hills Rally – 22-23 October
Round Seven: Rally NSW, location TBC – 18–20 November
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