Hyundai WRC driver Hayden Paddon reflects on the South Canterbury Rally and what lies ahead in Europe…..
Hi
I have just landed back in the warmth of Europe after a quick but successful trip back home in New Zealand.
My 10 days in NZ started by spending some time with the Hyundai NZ team at National Fieldays at Mystery Creek, where it was great to meet and engage with fans and Hyundai customers. It always brings backs memories spending time there from when I used to work for my father in the farming industry.
After this, it was a long drive with the truck and rally car to Timaru for round 4 of the New Zealand Rally Championship – the first time since 1984 that South Canterbury has hosted a round of the national championship! This had special significance for me as it was this area and roads where I first learned to drive, when I first competed and is the region that got right behind me to help us get to where we are today.
South Canterbury has generally been a very fast rally and this year was no exception, with several stages averaging speeds of over 130kmph. While our Hyundai AP4+ is a good handling package and can carry a lot of corner speed, we lack top speed due to gearing – about 25-30kmph to be exact. So we knew that was going to make the rally challenging for us.
To add to that challenge, a hard frost on the morning of the rally created some very icy conditions which was really hard to read and predict. In some parts, the road was completely sheet white which you had absolutely no grip on and exploring this as the first car on the road was hair raising at times. Come the afternoon, conditions had improved and we could start to get our teeth into it again and really enjoy it. When I say ‘we’ it was great to have John back in the car again who is fully fit after his operation a couple of months ago.
It was great to win the rally and 10/11 stages, a huge testament to our amazing team who are putting in a huge effort behind the scenes. It’s great to see NZ rallying in such a strong position at present, with many fast drivers (Ben Hunt and Matt Summerfield did a great job over the weekend), over 90 entries and two of Australians best drivers now competing here. This combined with the huge spectator support over the rally makes me proud to be involved in NZ rallying and let’s hope we see it continue to grow.
Now the focus is back on WRC and our thorough preparation for one of the most famous rally’s of all. It’s straight into testing in Estonia before returning to Italy for 12 days to prepare pace notes and event prep. Then it’s back to Estonia for a warm up Rally which is a great test for us before Finland – using the 2018 WRC test car and team. And then less than 2 weeks after this is of course Rally Finland – the mega of rallying!
We currently still have space on our VIP Rally Australia tour with us in November with all-inclusive prices starting from $1,990. For more information or bookings email tours@paddonrallysport.co.nz
Thanks for all your continued support and look forward to keeping you updated soon.
Regards,
Hayden
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