WRC driver Hayden Paddon reflects on his latest World Rally Championship round in Italy….
Hi
Back on deck after a busy couple of weeks and relatively successful Rally Sardegna. Rally Sardegna is always one of the toughest of the year with hot temperatures and very long days in the car – but 4th place was a solid finish and more importantly strong points for the team.
We were chasing our tail right from the start of the event when the traditionally hot, sunny Rally Sardegna turned into a mud bath that reassembled Wales Rally GB conditions on the Thursday and Friday. The challenge with this for us is due to our low Championship position, we were the last WRC car on the road which meant we faced the worse of the conditions, with the road deteriorating car by car. To make matters worse the forecast was for sun and dry conditions on Saturday and with the classification reversed for Saturday, it would then be a disadvantage to be at the front of the field.
On Friday we focused on keeping it clean and making no mistakes, which was particularly challenging on the second pass on the Tula stage – an incredibly difficult stage in the mud and fog. In places the car was driving us more and to put into perspective, times for everyone were 1 minute slower over the second pass of the 22km stage. Our Friday was also not helped by some wayward tyre calls on my behalf – as I was expecting the roads to dry out a lot faster. Sitting in P7 at end of Day 1 then made the rest of the weekend a challenge.
We started Saturday 3rd on the road and luckily some damp conditions meant the road position disadvantage wasn’t as great, meaning we could set some competitive times – but come the afternoon the conditions had become dry and hot and the sweeping affect from each car was huge! We were aware of this and rather than trying to create a miracle, we just focused on competing with the people around us on the road.
On Saturday this included a close battle with Mads Ostberg who we managed to overhaul and then protect the position on Sunday. Although not fighting for the top positions like we would have liked, being on a close fight with Mads made it enjoyable and we kept our nose clean throughout the weekend which we can take some satisfaction from. It was also nice to finish this rally for the first time in three years.
Obviously the rally will be remembered for the incredibly close fight for the win between Ogier and our team mate, and was great to see Thierry get the win on the last stage capping off a great weekend for the team.
Big thanks for everyone’s support. We are certainly hoping to up the game in Finland and hope for the first time this year we can maybe get an advantage from our low starting position (it has worked against us in all WRC events so far this year). Also by that stage the body will be 100% fit again. A huge thanks to all the doctors and Formula Medicine for helping with my rehab and prep for this rally. Two weeks ago it was not looking so positive so to even be at the start of the rally is credit to them. A huge thank you also to the team and Seb who continue to do an amazing job and lastly all the Kiwi and Italian support we had at the event, waving the flags and giving us that extra boost.
I arrived back in NZ last Friday and spent Saturday at Fieldays with the Hyundai NZ crew. I’m now en route to Timaru for Rally South Canterbury, which is the 4th round of the NZ Rally Championship and on the roads that I grew up on. With over 96 entries it looks to be a mega rally.
Thanks,
Hayden
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