New Zealand rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard gave it everything they could at Rally di Roma Capitale over the weekend in a very close-fought competition with fast local drivers.
While they’d have loved to finish higher than the sixth place they earned in the Hyundai i20 Rally 2, they are both still at the top of their respective driver and co-driver points-tables of the 2024 FIA European Rally Championship.
The closeness of the ERC top-runners is highlighted by the fact that the New Zealanders finished just 38.2 seconds behind the winner, Italian driver Andrea Crugnola and only 6.1 seconds off their closest championship rival Mathieu Franceschi, who finished fifth, after 189 km of competition.
Describing it as a tough weekend, Paddon said they were obviously looking for more. “It’s not from a lack of trying by the team, BRC Racing, John and myself. We’re simply lacking performance compared to our rivals and we gave it everything we could with the package we had.”
Paddon says he feels like it was some of his best driving on any tarmac rally to date. “Everything felt really good on the stages with top three and top five stage times throughout the event, but overall the times weren’t quite there. It’s so close and we couldn’t put up the fight we wanted to those who finished ahead of us.”
Still being at the top of the championship leaderboard is a silver lining to the weekend’s results, with Paddon now on 89 points compared to Franceschi’s 82 with three ERC rounds to go.
“Everything’s running reliably and well, but it’s back to the drawing board with the team to see what solutions we can find to bridge the gap which we seem to be missing this year. We certainly haven’t given up and will keep working hard to try and secure our second ERC title.”
Next up for Paddon, Kennard and the BRC Racing Hyundai 120 Rally 2 is Barum Czech Rally Zlín, also on tarmac, running 16 to 18 August.
RESULT: ERC Rally di Roma Capitale 2024
1/ Andrea Crugnola (ITA)/Pietro Ometto (ITA) Citroën C3 Rally2, 1hr 53min10.9sec
2/ Simone Campedelli (ITA)/Tania Canton (ITA) Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, +22.3sec
3/ Efrén Llarena (ESP)/Sara Fernández (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, +27.9sec
4/ Simone Tempestini (ROU)/Sergiu Itu (ROU) Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, +32.1sec
5/ Mathieu Franceschi (FRA)/Andy Malfoy (FRA) Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, +32.1sec
6/ Hayden Paddon (NZL)/John Kennard (NZL) Hyundai i20N Rally2, +38.2
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