Hayden Paddon targets Australian Rally Championship title in Canberra

Hayden Paddon (pictured) and John Kennard have competed together in a career that has spanned all levels of rallying. Photo / Paddon Racing Group

Hayden Paddon and John Kennard are reigniting a transtasman rivalry as they aim to emulate Possum Bourne’s success when they start their first full Australian Rally Championship in Canberra this weekend.

Bourne won the Australian title seven times from 1996 to 2002 and the event’s trophy now bears his name after his death in 2003.

Bourne vied for the championship with Aussie Neal Bates, who won the event three years in a row before finishing runner-up to the Pukekohe driver five times.

Paddon and Kennard will be taking on Neal’s sons, with the Kiwi duo seeded second behind Harry Bates. Lewis Bates is seeded fourth.

Harry has won the Possum Bourne Memorial Trophy three times, in 2019, 2023 and 2024, while Lewis was victorious in 2022.

Paddon was an avid follower of Bourne’s exploits across the Tasman.

“It will be special to compete in Australia this year, especially after the many years of success that Possum Bourne had there and watching that as a kid,” Paddon said.

“To now take our own Kiwi team across the Ditch and rejuvenate that transtasman rivalry is going to be an exciting and fun challenge.

“We know from previous times we’ve competed in Australia that everyone is very welcoming, which adds to the experience.”

This year is the 20th Paddon and Kennard have competed together in a career that has spanned all levels of rallying from regional New Zealand events to becoming the only Kiwis to win a World Rally Championship round (Argentina in 2016).

New Zealand’s most successful rally pairing have also won two European Championships.

“It’s great to get our Australian campaign started,” Paddon said. “John and I are very much going into the unknown, with new rallies, new stages and new competition, but we’re looking forward to the challenge and we’re ready to go.

“I’m really excited to finally put together a campaign for the Australian Rally Championship, something we’ve been trying to make happen for a couple of years. It’s a championship we haven’t yet tried our hand at and I’ve been following closely the level of competition and calibre of events from the other side of the Tasman.

“It will be a tough challenge, going up against some very fast competition on unfamiliar events and terrain, but we have the best team with PRG and a strong package with the Hyundai i20N Rally2 to give it our best shot.”

Paddon is looking forward to the challenge of contesting more Australian rallies after back-to-back FIA European titles.

And while it’s a few years since he has rallied in Australia, he will be drawing on earlier successes, such as winning the Asia Pacific Rally Championship event at Coffs Harbour in 2022 and contesting the Australian WRC round, in which he finished second in 2018 and third in 2017.

“Our approach is to ease into it a little bit. We know the locals will be fast on this rally and you don’t win the championship at the first round.

“Our goals are to be consistent and feel our way in for this first event. Points on the board is the target to give us a base to build the rest of our championship on.”

Paddon has committed to contesting all six rounds of the ARC, starting in Canberra this weekend, followed by Western Australia in May, Queensland in July, Victoria in August, South Australia in October and Tasmania in November.