The ongoing challenge for the FIA World Rally Championship is to draw more car manufacturers into the category. It has been the way for many seasons and may continue for some time. The consequence of this means that the number of WRC seats available each season is extremely limited, and thus presents a challenge for young drivers coming through the ranks as well as ex WRC drivers trying to make it back into the top category.
This challenge is particularly prevalent for Hayden Paddon and his plan to return to Europe, compete in the WRC2 second-tier category over the next two seasons and get back into a manufacturer’s WRC car.
Six different car manufacturers, Ford, Hyundai, Toyota, Citroen, VW and Mini have competed in WRC over the last decade, but never at the same time. No more than four manufacturers have competed in the same season and at the moment we have three – Toyota, Hyundai and Ford (although Ford, through M-Sport is a privateer team).
It’s a tough task ahead, just ask Andreas Mikkelsen who is currently leading the 2022 WRC2 season with two wins, Rallye Monte Carlo and Rally Sweden.
Luke Barry from Dirtfish.com recently caught up with Mikkelsen, discussing his future prospects for getting back in the WRC (see: Where does Mikkelsen’s WRC career go from here?).
Like Paddon, he too was dropped from the Hyundai Motorsport line-up, back in 2020. He had previously been dropped by Volkswagen when they suddenly pulled out of its WRC program in 2016 but went on to gain drives with both Citroen and eventually Hyundai.
Mikkelsen is a great example. He won both the 2021 WRC2 and European Rally Championship and didn’t get a ‘look-in’ for a 2022 seat at the main table.
Barry quotes Mikkelsen, “The only thing I can do at the moment is just try and do as well as I can in WRC2, so that if there is a possibility opening in WRC that we are first in line.”
That is something that Paddon has always said, that he needs to be back competing in Europe to get back in the main game. If you are not there when someone comes knocking you cannot open the door. Paddon now has to beat Mikkelsen so that he is first in line.
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