Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard head into a WRC2 storm at this weekend’s Rally Estonia (15-17 July 2022). The round marks the halfway mark in the 13 round WRC2 Championship and for some competing in the series, the pressure is building for top results.
Paddon says the aim for Estonia is to continue with their own goals of learning the Hyundai i20 N Rally 2 car inside and out, preparing it to better suit Paddon’s preferences. The goals are simple: make the most of every competitive stage to finish the rally and gain more experience of the car and for the team.
“With Rally Estonia, the goal is essentially the same as Latvia,” commented Paddon. “We’re looking at it as a test rally where we focus on ourselves to ensure we take positive steps forward with the feeling with the car and competitiveness. We have no result expectations or goals, simply to finish the rally and gain more experience of the car and for the team.”
For those around him, it is more about winning. Andreas Mikkelsen’s WRC2 title defence got off to a good start winning both Rallye Monte Carlo and Rally Sweden, the first two rounds of the WRC2 calendar. Having missed Croatia Rally, the Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo driver then retired out of both Rally de Potugal and Safari Rally Kenya.
WRC2 drivers can count their best six results from seven starts meaning regardless of how the remainder of the season plays out, Mikkelsen will have to carry at least one non-score. Hence the pressure to win at Rally Estonia.
Add into the mix current championship leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), Hyundai Motorsport’s Teemu Suninen (i20N Rally2) and locals Egon Kaur and Georg Linnamäe in a pair of Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 cars and a bumper entry of 18 WRC2 cars. Paddon and his Hyundai will have their hands full and will soon get an idea of how quick they need to be for their final European fling at Rally Finland at the beginning of August (4-7).
“The roads are like Latvia in the way that they are very fast, narrow in places and sandy. High levels of commitment are needed to be competitive.
“The team has been working really hard with just seven days to turn the car around from Latvia which includes all our usual pre-rally prep and also changing the setup of many components. It’s an exciting time for our small and dedicated team as we use this event in Estonia and Rally Finland in August as part of our preparation for a full WRC2 campaign next year.”
Paddon has competed in Estonia once before in 2018, finishing second when the rally was a WRC candidate event with former co-driver Seb Marshall in a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC car.
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