WRC driver New Zealander Hayden Paddon has fellow Kiwi John Kennard, one of the best in the business, co-piloting his Hyundai i20 WRC car and on recent form they are a pairing to be taken seriously.
In just their second season in the top tier of rallying, the duo have been on the podium and inside the top five twice. Next weekend they arrive in Finland for round eight of the championship and the rally is significant for both in different ways.
Paddon is returning to one of his favourite rallies on the calendar, a race he's contested the most times (five) overseas. For Kennard though, the milestone is much more impressive. Rally Finland, from July 30 to August 2, will celebrate the Kiwi's 30th year in international rallying and his 50th WRC event.
Kennard is back where his overseas rallying started in 1985 at Rally Mantta, where he won the 0-1300cc category in a Toyota Starlet.
"It all started with car trialing with my dad and his mates," said Kennard. "I used to sit in the middle between them. Soon afterwards I bought a Datsun 1200 and went rallying as a driver and my first event was in 1979 in the Mainfreight Rally in the Ashley Forest.
"I rallied the Datsun until 1984 when I bought a Corolla. It was a good piece of kit but I couldn't get it ready in time to contest the Mainfreight that year so helped the organisers instead.
"That's where I met Brent and Shirley Rawstron, my business partners [in Vicarage Lane Wines], and they said they were heading off to Europe [in 1986] to do a few rallies. At that stage there was another bloke co-driving and I was on the support crew.
"After a few rallies the co-driver kept getting bad migraines and by the time the 1000 Lakes Rally came around he said he wasn't up to international rallying any more.
So Brent asked me if I wanted to try co-driving instead of being behind the wheel, which I did."
There you have it - Kennard got his first start as a co-driver at a round of the WRC in Finland. The funny thing is, though, Kennard didn't have much idea about making rally notes so he asked around.
A friend came back with a sample set that just happened to belong to Henry Toivonen's. Kennard still has the original notes and mentioned they'll be doing the same stage again 30 years down the track.
""When I came back to New Zealand I co-drove for people who wanted someone with pace note experience for the next few years," he said.
By the early 1990s, Kennard was back in Europe doing a bit of co-driving and soon found himself moving into logistics working with Mitsubishi Japan, before going to Prodrive and Mitsubishi again in America until 2003.
Returning to New Zealand in 2004 Kennard settled back into working on the vineyard he'd bought in 2002.
By 2005, Hayden Paddon was getting ready to step up to the national championship and Kennard's name was put forward as a co-driver who would be ideal to put in the car with the young fella.
"Hayden and his dad came along and asked me if I would be interested in doing something with them. I'd not been a big fan of working with youngsters but said we could do a couple of rallies and see how it went.
"As soon as I got in the car with Hayden I realised he was different. He was mature and sensible for someone so young [at 18]. I had been in cars during testing with Carlos [Sainz] and Alister [McRae] and he reminded me of them. He knew what he wanted and had a lot of talent so I said I'd carry on and here we are.
"I'm back where I was, racing in the WRC as I was 30 years ago. I never thought it would happen again, and I'm absolutely loving it. I'll keep going as long as Hayden wants me in the car and I'm looking forward to going back to where it all started."
