A flat tyre couldn't stop Hayden Paddon winning last year's International Rally of Whangārei in his Hyundai i20 AP4. Paddon is back to defend his title this weekend.
A flat tyre couldn't stop Hayden Paddon winning last year's International Rally of Whangārei in his Hyundai i20 AP4. Paddon is back to defend his title this weekend.
Northland rally fans will have extra reason to watch as Kiwi star Hayden Paddon races to defend his title at the International Rally of Whangārei this weekend.
Paddon is going for his eighth title in Whangārei after winning last year's event, and he's also keen to support a deserving local through his Paddon Project.
International rallying will return to Northland again on the weekend with the International Rally of Whangārei, where some of the world's top drivers will be battling it out on unsealed roads around the district.
Paddon won last year's event in Whangārei and is already at the head of this year's championship after winning the opening rally in Otago.
But there's no slowing down for Paddon as he and co-driver John Kennard line up as the top seeds at the second round of the New Zealand Rally Championship from May 13-15.
Running under the Hyundai New Zealand Rally banner this season, Paddon aims to make the most of every minute on the 253km of special stages of the Whangārei event as he and Kennard prepare to return to Europe and the intensity of competition in the FIA World Rally Championship-2 within the next two months.
The five-time New Zealand Rally champion knows his own performance can only benefit from as much seat time as possible. To secure the win in Whangārei with maximum points for the current NZRC title, Paddon and his team will be working hard to ensure a trouble-free run in the Hyundai i20 AP4.
Tweaks and improvements have been done on his Hyundai i20 AP4 since the Otago win and Paddon is looking forward to getting into the action, which starts on Friday evening with the Pohe Island super special stage in William Fraser Memorial Park.
"A maximum point score is again the target and that puts a lot of emphasis on having a trouble-free event. There are stage records up for grabs, but we may have to balance challenging those depending on the conditions," he said.
Hayden Paddon in his Hyundai i20 AP4 at last year's International Rally of Whangārei. Paddon will defend his title on the weekend and hand out gifts to people through his Paddon Project.
"Otago was a good warmup for the season ahead, but it was exactly that – a warmup. We know there is more in myself and the car, so we are focused on extracting that to put together a more polished performance.
"Any and all seat time before we go to Europe is absolutely vital, so this rally plays a key role in our preparation for WRC2. We have made several changes to the car. In Otago, we essentially had all the right ingredients in the pot from pre-season testing, but we just didn't have them in the right way. So we have rectified a lot of that which should make the car easier to drive."
Alongside his NZRC campaign, Paddon and Hyundai New Zealand Rally created a local community project, dubbed the Paddon Project, to support a deserving local in the regions where the NZRC events are held. Thanks to the support of Paddon's official partners, people in the rally regions can nominate a deserving local to win a prize pack including $2000 cash, a $500 Mitre 10 voucher and more.
The Paddon Project got under way with the Otago rally with two deserving families associated with New Zealand's passionate rallying community. Paddon and the team headed along to St Peter Chanel school in Green Island, Dunedin, to visit and deliver an array of prizes to motorsport-mad brothers Jensen and Ari West, who lost their mother to cancer two years ago. Long-time motorsport official Mike Hosken has been through some financial challenges so it was an easy decision to present Mike with the $2000 cash prize for the Otago round of the Paddon Project.
Several worthy applicants were put forward for the Whangārei round of the Paddon Project, with three being selected.
"The intention of this programme is to give back to the many communities we visit across New Zealand as part of the New Zealand Rally Championship. So, to offer both the $2000 cash to Mike then to visit Jensen and Ari at St Peter Chanel school was heart-warming,'' Paddon said.
"We're looking forward to meeting the three Paddon Project recipients we've selected from the Whangārei nominations and sharing the generous prizes from our commercial partners."
More information on the Paddon Project is available at paddonrallysport.co.nz/paddons-project/.
• For more on the rally go to nzrallychamps.co.nz/event/vinz-international-rally-of-whangarei/
