Hayden Paddon and Seb Marshall celebrate finishing second in Poland. Photo / McKlein Photography
Hayden Paddon and Seb Marshall celebrate finishing second in Poland. Photo / McKlein Photography
Rally Poland over the weekend may end up being a pivotal moment in Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon's career.
The 30-year-old finished second to Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville and recorded his first podium finish in over a year on Sunday night. More importantly though, it marks a break-through result in a season where anything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the talented New Zealander and will restore some much-needed confidence as he tackles the rest of the year.
"Probably just a massive relief is probably the biggest thing with this," Paddon said after the rally. "It has been 12 months since we were last on the podium and this year has been some of the hardest times of my life so it has been very difficult.
"This weekend has helped me lower the shoulders and relax a little bit.
"It gives up a little bit of momentum we can build on to work towards future rallies."
Paddon's 2017 season has been as challenging as anyone could imagine from rogue one-of-a-kind incidents to typical rallying heart-ache, a loss of confidence and even drama outside of the car.
It started in the worst possible fashion when a small mistake on the treacherous icy roads in Monte Carlo saw him slide into a bank and make contact with a spectator that resulted in tragic circumstances. How the spectator came to be in that position remains a mystery but the impact the incident had on Paddon had lingering effects.
He started the following rally with minimal experience of the new 2017-spec cars while most of his rivals had key mileage under their belts from Monte Carlo. He struggled to adjust to the car even at Argentina, where 12 months earlier he'd cracked his maiden WRC win.
Long-time co-driver John Kennard opted to announce his retirement and then was unable to take his place at a couple of events with a troublesome hip ailment, which thrust Brit Seb Marshall into the car earlier than expected.
Mechanical failure hurt his chances in Portugal after he had got to grip with his new car and a rare crash blew an opportunity to win in Corsica.
Even on the opening day in Poland luck deserted him as his road position (eighth) turned into a disadvantage because of heavy rain.
But a clever drive on leg 1, where he minimized the damage and took little risk, a stunning return to form in better conditions on leg 2, where he won three of the day's stages and powered back into the frame, and a smart final leg saw him move up a spot after Ott Tanak's crash and claim a vital second place to get his season and arguably career back on track.
"To finish on the podium is certainly more than what we expected especially after how the rally started on Friday morning when we found ourselves 40 seconds back," Paddon explained.
"Since then the rally has gone very well - we stayed out of trouble, we showed really good speed yesterday and today was just about consolidating. We had a big gap in front and behind and we just wanted to bring home a podium result.
"It was unfortunate for Ott, who had a small crash today, it meant we were able to pick up second and a one-two for the team."
Paddon's difficult year even had people starting to question whether his drive at the Hyundai factory team was under threat. But Paddon has steadfastly spoken about how much support he has received from the Korean manufacturer and is delighted to be able to pay back the faith they've shown him.
Photo / McKlein Photography
"A huge thanks to the team - they have been very patient with us," he said. "Obviously things haven't been going well but they stuck at it and never gave up and we have had the full support of everybody.
"Now I'm really looking forward to Finland - my favourite rally of the year. We know we have a car that is working probably even better in Finland than what it was here.
"We have a couple of weeks to reset and prepare as best as we can."
While 2017 has been challenging to say the least it is also character-building. The development a driver goes through isn't just about driving and the setbacks he's endured this year, as horrible as they've been, will serve him better in the future.
You get the feeling that in time Paddon will look back on this rally as the one that righted his course on his quest to become world champion.
