Having won the Rally of Whangarei in May 2022, Hayden Paddon is now the winner of the most New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) rounds in the history of the championship. Prior to that, having won the Otago Rally, Paddon was tied with five-time NZRC champion Richard Mason with 28 event wins. The Whangarei win brings Hayden’s total to 29.
Coupled to this milestone, Paddon’s co-driver, John Kennard who lives in Blenheim, also set a new record for the NZRC with the Whangarei win to take his total event victories to 26.
While driver and co-driver have set new records, there is another milestone for Paddon Rallysport with the success of their Hyundai i20 AP4. It is now the most successful rally car in the 45-year history of the NZRC with 14 round wins – 13 with Hayden at the wheel and one victory with David Holder and co-driver Jason Farmer piloting the car to win the 2017 Otago Rally.
“The top result (at Rally Whangarei) was totally expected as Paddon Rallysport continued to show their absolute professionalism with an all-the-way win that was never really in doubt right from Friday afternoon’s Shakedown,” commented Chris Grant, NZ rally expert and commentator.
“Hayden and John set records galore at almost every turn, winning all 18-stages and appearing to use each first pass in the morning as a high-speed recce. They then got somewhat serious in the repeat runs both afternoons as they put the hammer down to consistently beat their morning times by a second per kilometre.
“As usual the focus was on the flying Hyundai i20 AP4 of Hayden and John and their near faultless performance at Whangarei resulted in them making NZRC history becoming the winners of the most rounds – 29 for Hayden and 26 for John.”
Paddon and Kennard will next contest the third round of the 2022 NZRC, the Rally of South Canterbury 20 June, before heading to Europe where they will first contest the Rally di Alba in a Hyundai i20 R5, 24-25 June, a tarmac event which is part of the Tour European Rally Series.
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